The National Treasury has confirmed there could be fewer job losses than the initially estimated 5 000 job losses after the sugar tax has been introduced.
Treasury officials told Parliament yesterday that exemptions on some sweetened beverages could save many jobs.
Chief director in the tax policy unit Yanga Mputa told the joint committees on finance that following extensive consultations on the sugar tax, they had decided to put exemptions on some of the beverages to stave off job losses.
However, employers falling under a threshold set by the Treasury would be allowed to apply for exemptions.
Mputa would not say how many jobs could be saved, saying they needed to do another study.
When the sugar tax was proposed, it was estimated that 5 000 jobs would be lost.
Mputa said they had not done another study to determine job losses, but added they would be less than the 5 000 initially projected.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the sugar tax in his Budget last year, and discussions have already started in Parliament.
Mputa told MPs that in the current proposal, following consultations, they had decided to tax fizzy drinks and concentrated juices.
“After consultations last year, we exempted some juices because of potential job losses. What is in here is your Coca-Cola and iced tea,” she said of some of the sugary products to be taxed.
However, they had exempted some of the sweetened beverages. They had received submissions from farmers and would exempt some of the products from them to save jobs.
Mputa said they would be able to conduct another study soon to look at the impact of job losses. During their consultations last year, the question of job losses was raised by stakeholders. She would not say how soon the study would be completed.
The National Treasury has introduced several tax reforms to increase tax revenue. This followed a R30 billion shortfall in the Budget.
The Treasury has increased personal income tax across all the tax brackets.