The Sugar Tax That Pretends Milk Isn’t a Sugary Drink

The UK government has strengthened its sugar tax, yet somehow still can’t admit that cow’s milk is a sugary drink. The Soft Drink Industry Levy is being expanded, thresholds lowered, loopholes supposedly closed. But the moment you read the details, the policy collapses into familiar territory: protect dairy.

Here’s the trick.

When deciding whether a sweetened milk drink should be taxed, the lactose in cow’s milk no longer counts as sugar. But the naturally occurring sugars in sweetened plant-based drinks do. One rule for cow secretion, another for everything else.

And the absurdity is undeniable: cow’s milk contains roughly the same sugar per 100ml as Fanta Orange, around 4.5–5g.

If that level of sugar in oat milk triggers taxation, the same level in cow’s milk should too. Instead, dairy gets a free pass because its sugar comes with lobbying.

This isn’t nutrition policy.

It’s protectionism.

The Plant-Based Food Alliance called the decision “disappointing.” But this isn’t disappointment, it’s a government-engineered advantage for dairy dressed up as public health. A way to pretend sugar disappears if the liquid came out of an udder.

Pre-packaged milkshakes, mountains of added sugar, get to hide behind the lactose loophole, while a sweetened plant-based drink with the same sugar load is taxed. A policy so lopsided it would be funny if it weren’t going to shape the market for years.

And while ministers claim the levy reduces obesity and dental issues, they quietly exempt sugary dairy drinks.

The PBFA is right: this completely undermines the point of the levy.

A consistent sugar policy would treat similar sugar levels the same, regardless of whether they originated in a cow or a plant. But fairness isn’t the priority. Keeping dairy comfortable is.

By 2028, companies will have spent years reformulating around yet another exemption carved out for an industry that never stops asking for special treatment. Meanwhile, plant-based milks take the regulatory hit for having the audacity not to come from a cow.

Let’s be clear:

This isn’t a sugar tax.

It’s a dairy subsidy masquerading as one, and plant-based milk drinkers are the ones paying for it.