Soda taxes made sugary drink prices rise and sales fall in cities that tried them, study finds
foxbusiness.comRensi sounds off on soda tax
Sales of sugary drinks plummeted by about one-third across five U.S. cities after they started taxing those products, a study published Friday found.
Soda taxes adopted in each city pushed sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) prices up and led to a decline in sales that lasted as policymakers intended, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum.
Researchers say their findings show soda taxes are an effective policy tool to help consumers cut down on their sugar intake, but the beverage industry opposes them.
The five U.S. cities examined were Boulder, Colorado; Philadelphia; Oakland, California; Seattle and San Francisco. Tax amounts levied on sugary drinks in these cities ranged from 1 to 2 cents per ounce. For a 2-liter bottle of soda, that adds as much as an extra $1.36 in taxes to the price.
KEY MEDICAL GROUPS PUSH FOR TAX ON SODA, SUGARY DRINKS FOR FIRST TIME
A customer walks past shelves of soft drinks at the Berkeley Bowl West market in Berkeley, Calif., Nov. 6, 2014. (Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Previous studies on the impact of soda taxes have looked at one taxed city compared to a control city with no taxes, researchers said. This study differed by analyzing the composite effect of SSB taxes in multiple cities to paint a picture of what could happen if soda taxes were more widespread, lead author Scott Kaplan, an economics professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, told NPR in an interview.
«SSB excise taxes were associated with large, consistent declines in SSB purchases across 5 US taxed cities following tax-driven price changes,» the study said.
AMERICANS IN THESE STATES WILL PAY LESS IN TAXES THIS YEAR
Sugar is listed
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