Christos Pantazis, a health policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group, is advocating for quicker tax increases on alcohol, tobacco products, and sugary beverages than previously planned. Speaking to “Der Spiegel”, Pantazis noted the difficulty in convincing taxpayers to accept “ever-increasing burdens while consumption of health-damaging products generates multi-billion euro public costs.”
He argued that by effectively curbing the consumption of tobacco, high-proof alcohol, and excessive sugar, society would improve public health and simultaneously create fiscal room to finance non-insured benefits more equitably and stabilize the statutory healthcare system. Emmi Zeulner, the CSU’s health policy specialist, has also called for a stronger increase in these “steering taxes.”
Pantazis and Zeulner are receiving support from the Greens. Janosch Dahmen, the Greens’ health policy spokesperson, told “Der Spiegel” that “the demand for significantly more decisive steering taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and sugar is correct.” He added that it would be foolish to continue allowing a few major corporations to earn billions each year from high-proof alcohol, nicotine products, and over-sweetened drinks, while others become seriously ill because of these products, forcing taxpayers and businesses to cover the costs of subsequent care.
