Identifying the burden of import duties on the price of the beverages covered is an important component of assessing the total tax burden of those beverages.

An import duty is a tax on a selected good imported into a country to be consumed in that country (i.e. the goods are not in transit to another country). In general, import duties are collected from the importer at the point of entry into the country. These taxes can be either specific or ad valorem. Specific import duties are applied in the same way as specific excise taxes (e.g., an amount per litre). Ad valorem import duties are generally applied to the CIF (cost, insurance, freight) value, i.e., the value of the unloaded consignment that includes the cost of the product itself, insurance, and transport and unloading. Example: 50% import duty levied on CIF.

Beer

Spirits

Sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage

Import duty tax rates reported were converted as a percent of the prices reported for a 330 ml of the internationally comparable brand of sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages, a 330 ml of the most sold brand of beer and a 750 ml of the most sold brand of the most sold type of spirits. This tax was used in the calculation of the tax burden only for beverages reported as imported (not locally produced) and in countries that were not part of a multilateral or bilateral agreement with a trade partner country where import duties were waived for those beverages.

Biennial

Biennial

perucica@who.int

Anne-Marie Perucic

7755

Percentages depend in many cases (especially when import duty is specific) on the level of price reported for the beverage. If the price is not correctly reported, the proportion estimated may be biased.