A newly circulated draft law from the German Ministry of Finance has unveiled the concrete details of the planned sugar tax on beverages. Set to take effect on July 1, 2027, the legislation proposes a three-tier taxation system that will impose significant additional costs on manufacturers of sugary drinks, while explicitly exempting non-alcoholic beers and pure fruit juices. The federal government anticipates the tax will generate approximately EUR 1.2 billion annually—more than double the initially estimated EUR 550 million.
According to the draft, the tax will apply to beverages containing at least five grams of sugar per 100 milliliters. Drinks with five to seven grams of sugar per 100 milliliters will be subject to a levy of EUR 0.26 per liter (EUR 26 per hl). The rate increases to EUR 0.32 per liter (EUR 32 per hl) for a sugar content between seven and ten grams, and reaches a maximum of EUR 0.38 per liter (EUR 38 per hl) for beverages containing more than ten grams of sugar per 100 milliliters. Concentrates and syrups will be taxed based on the volume of the ready-to-drink final product.
The legislation also defines a range of exemptions. Non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic wine, and non-alcoholic sparkling wine will not be subject to the tax. Similarly, pure fruit and vegetable juices with no added sugar, as well as spritzers (Schorlen) made exclusively from pure juice and carbonated water, are exempt. Plant-based milk alternatives and milk-mix beverages will also escape the levy. Furthermore, beverages with zero sugar, such as diet sodas, fall below the five-gram threshold and remain untaxed. Conversely, traditional malt beverages and keg sodas (Fassbrausen) are expected to be taxed as regular soft drinks. The introduction of the tax follows earlier commitments by the government to impose levies on sugar and spirits to address budgetary shortfalls (inside.beer, 10.07.2026).
However, the draft is already facing substantial pushback. The Ministry of Finance reportedly gave other ministries a mere 24-hour window to submit their comments, a move perceived as an affront that has prompted some departments to demand renegotiations. Political opposition is also mounting, with Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein and Thuringia's Mario Voigt, along with agricultural policy spokeswoman Christina Stumpp, voicing their disagreement.
The beverage industry has reacted with strong opposition. The Deutscher Brauer-Bund (DBB) and Privaten Brauereien Deutschland have firmly positioned themselves against the draft. The DBB highlighted that many of Germany's 1,400 breweries have increasingly relied on non-alcoholic soft drinks as a crucial secondary revenue stream amidst declining beer sales, making the proposed tax a significant threat to their business models. The Privaten Brauereien Deutschland also warned about disproportionate bureaucratic costs, particularly for smaller breweries.
Furthermore, the Verband der deutschen Fruchtsaft-Industrie (VdF) criticized the measure, with President Heinrich Prinz Reuss labeling the tax a "fraudulent label at the expense of the consumer". He argued that the health aspect serves merely as a fig leaf to generate additional state revenue. The Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Ernährungsindustrie has also demanded a realistic impact assessment from an economic and scientific perspective before proceeding with the legislation.
The draft is scheduled to be presented to the Cabinet in mid-October, followed by preliminary deliberations in the Bundestag. A final decision is expected by mid-to-late November as part of the broader budget companion law, provided the tax remains on the agenda.
UPDATE, 2026-10-01: Just one day after the draft was circulated, the German Federal Chancellery has halted the sugar-tax bill put forward by Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD). Government sources said the proposal in its current form was “not capable of winning a majority” within the coalition and deviated from the recommendations of the government’s Health Finance Commission. The intervention by the office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) also highlights a broader political divide within Germany’s governing coalition. Klingbeil leads the center-left SPD, while Merz heads the conservative CDU, two coalition partners that take markedly different positions on a number of fiscal and economic-policy issues. The abrupt decision to block Klingbeil’s proposal therefore once again exposes these tensions, this time over beverage taxation. The move means that the timetable outlined above is no longer assured. However, the sugar tax itself has not necessarily been abandoned: the Ministry of Finance maintains that the government has already agreed in principle to introduce a levy on sugary beverages and that negotiations over its concrete design are continuing. The dispute therefore appears to concern primarily the scope and structure of Klingbeil’s proposal rather than the fundamental decision to introduce such a tax.
