A new tax could be brought in to try to reduce the amount of salt and sugar used in the food industry to improve health - your views online

"How about reducing the tax and cost of healthy food?”

Boris Johnson is not championing tax on salt and sugar in food

Food taxes

A new tax could be brought in to try to reduce the amount of salt and sugar used in the food industry. Would you support this?

Jette Goldie

The "sugar tax" on soft drinks caused manufacturers to swap sugar for artificial sweeteners, which we are now learning aren't as safe as we thought, but they're being consumed by children by the ton.

Amir Khan

No I would not support this. There’s enough taxation flying about and the industry is already taxed as a sugar levy. It won’t be long until we start getting taxed for breathing.

Nan Mcewan

An excuse to raise taxes – fed up being told what to do and eat.

Anna Mosspaul

All depends on at what level of salt and sugar in a product that it would begin to incur taxation. Manufacturers would strive to get below this level and avoid the taxation. As for the general public, like smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol it could be a discretionary tax. If you don't want to pay the tax, don't buy the product that incurs the tax.

Pauline Downie

Why don't we live in the free world any more? Being told what to eat, what to drink, no more free speech, told when we can go out and what time we have to come home. The list off lost freedoms is endless and seems to be growing every day.

Debs Campbell

I heard it’s not a tax like we pay for sugary drinks, it’s the companies that make the food that the government wants to cut down the amount of salt they use and not for the public to pay, like we do for sugary drinks.

Rachel Hall

No, I generally only drink water, but every now and then on a hot day would love a Lemon San Pellegrino. Had one recently and the after taste of the saccharin was vile. I have no problem with my BMI and I don’t appreciate the government forcing me in to consuming artificial sweetener, which me and my kids avoid.

Mattias Hammarsten

Tax the crappy pre-made products loaded with corn syrup and flavoured salts, due to them not putting in enough real products to have any taste. That would raise both quality and nutritional value.

Keiran Yates

They take all our choices away little by little, until tthree generations away, people won’t even know what choice is.

Johnny Beskow

Manufacturers are already reducing the size of biscuits and chocolate bars and charging us the same price, if not more for them. If it comes to the crunch, I’ll stop buying them.

Sarah Cox

How about reducing the tax and cost of healthy food?

Mark Coley

First they came for the sugar from your Irn Bru and you said nothing. Now they want the salt from your fish and chips. Personal responsibility is out the window in the nanny state.

Joe Clifford

Why not just force the major junk food producers to pay tax like everyone else?

Brian Monaghan

Who will be taxed, the consumer or the billion pound profit producers of said food?

Kristine Robinson

Start taxing the business putting too much sugar in.

Patricia Hutt

Nooo, enough is enough. People cannae pay for food as it is.

Catherine Koutzoukou

It’s the soft drinks that need banned.

Peter Little

What happened to freedom of choice?

Lioslaith Rose

The food industry discovered a 50/50 ratio of fat/sugar was addictive and doesn’t give a sense of being full, because it's a ratio that doesn't occur in nature and our bodies are not evolved to cope with it. They added sugar to foods that shouldn't be sweet to get that ratio then had to add salt to hide the sugar. Because we never evolved to cope with this it also impacts metabolism badly. So the government will tax an addictive product and the addicted will end up paying for it, and the food industry perpetrating the whole thing will be no worse off.

Patrick Hogg

The food producers can't make tasty, palatable food without using oodles of salt, sugar or fat! Fact of life!

Paul Clarke

No. Nanny state making you eat what they want you to eat.

Tracy Morris

Absolutely not. And get your fruit and veg on the NHS? Eeeeh no!

Robert Gilchrist

Yes.