La Jornada: Tax on soft drinks and scrap metal left 132 thousand million pesos in 6 months

The revenue obtained from the special tax on production and services (IEPS) that is charged on soft drinks, beer, flavored drinks, tobacco and foods with high caloric density, or products scrap, left more than 132 billion pesos in the government’s coffers at the end of the first half of the year.

Revenue from IEPS collection on products that harm health reached a record level for the first half of the year, since it was recorded in 1990, highlighting the rebound in revenue collected from flavored beverages, tobacco and non-basic foods with high caloric density, which registered a new maximum, according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).

Although one of the objectives of charging the IEPS for products that harm health is to discourage consumption, the increase in income from this tax shows the opposite.

The revenue obtained from flavored drinks was 32,769.4 billion pesos from January to June, an unprecedented figure since 2014, which represented almost 25 percent of the IEPS income from goods that harm health. In addition, it reported an increase of 65.8 percent compared to the first half of 2025.

Another income that stood out is tobacco, with almost 30 billion pesos, an annual growth of 13 percent, while foods with high calorie density contributed 21,601.5 million pesos; that is, 7.2 percent more than in the same interval last year.

According to the most recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Regional Panorama of Food Security and Nutrition 2025, Mexico made progress in reducing hunger, but the population living with obesity and overweight increased.

The prevalence of overweight among children under five years of age in Mexico increased from 6.8 percent in 2012 to 7.4 in 2024, and obesity among those over 17 years of age from 29.7 to 37.4 percent in the same period.

In Inegi figures, inflation in cigarettes presented an annual increase of 21.01 percent in June 2026, beer registered an increase of 5.35. Meanwhile, packaged soft drinks had an increase of 10.37 percent and energy drinks, 6.56 percent, which is much higher than the national general inflation figure of 3.37 percent last June.

Not only is the treasury doing well: the Coca-Cola Femsa company reported income of 76,138 million pesos during the second quarter, an annual increase of 4.7 percent. In addition, it anticipated that it will raise the prices of its products in Mexico starting in August to recover the pending impact of the increase in the special tax on production and services and inflation.