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Sugar-sweetened drinks are a identified contributor to a number of well being points, together with poor food plan high quality, weight achieve and diabetes. While a number of research have proven that taxing sweetened drinks considerably reduces buying, questions have been raised about whether or not the taxes place a larger financial burden on lower-income households.
New analysis from the University of Washington, revealed June 2 in Food Policy, addressed the difficulty by analyzing the financial fairness impacts of sweetened beverage taxes in three cities: Seattle, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
“Sugar-sweetened drinks are the brand new tobacco,” stated James Krieger, senior writer and medical professor of well being programs and inhabitants well being within the UW School of Public Health. “Public well being researchers and others have been working for a while to cut back gross sales of those drinks. Taxes labored properly to cut back tobacco purchases, and so they’ve been utilized and seem to work equally properly in sugary drinks.”
The research confirmed the tax paid by households accounted for a bigger proportion of earnings for lower-income households, however nonetheless solely 0.01% to 0.05%. The annual per capita greenback quantity that households paid towards the tax, between $5.50 and $31, did not differ by earnings degree.
The researchers additionally discovered that sweetened beverage taxes redistributed {dollars} from higher- to lower-income households. More {dollars} went towards funding applications that profit lower-income communities than these households paid in taxes. The annual web profit to lower-income communities ranged from $5.3 to $19.1 million per yr throughout the three U.S. cities.
“Cities have prioritized funding applications that profit lower-income populations, which makes sweetened beverage tax insurance policies extra economically equitable,” Krieger stated.
For instance, income raised by Seattle’s sweetened beverage tax has been used to fund applications and companies that improve entry to wholesome meals and help youngster well being and studying in early childhood. In 2020, sweetened beverage tax income was additionally used to offer help to communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The researchers studied the amount of beverage purchases made in shops by 1,141 households within the three U.S. cities to estimate taxes paid by households throughout the first yr after tax implementation. They then used metropolis inhabitants information to calculate the per capita quantity of sweetened beverage tax paid by earnings degree.
The authors additionally reviewed public paperwork and contacted metropolis representatives to seek out the greenback quantity of annual tax income and the quantity invested in applications serving lower-income communities.
“There aren’t lots of research proper now that have a look at precise family purchases of those taxed drinks,” stated co-lead writer Melissa Knox, UW affiliate instructing professor of economics. “They principally have a look at retail-level information. But you do not know what individuals are doing at a family degree. They may very well be going to a different metropolis to purchase their sweetened drinks and bringing them again to Seattle. This research catches all of that. We’re simply taking a look at households that stay in these cities and the totality of the whole lot they report having bought.”
The research reveals that sweetened beverage taxes “will be an economically progressive coverage,” Krieger stated. Seven native jurisdictions within the United States, the Navajo Nation and at the least 45 different nations have applied sweetened beverage taxes.
“These taxes selectively and particularly profit individuals with decrease incomes to a larger extent than individuals with increased incomes, as a result of the cash that is raised by taxes goes towards applications serving lower-income communities,” Krieger stated. “That’s from the financial perspective.
“The taxes additionally profit individuals with decrease incomes as a result of they drive down consumption extra and gross sales extra for that inhabitants. People will devour much less of an unhealthy product and so they’ll be more healthy due to that. It’s a win for well being, it is a win for the pocketbook and it is a win for his or her communities.”
New proof that sugary beverage tax impacts are sustainable, efficient
More info:
Jessica C. Jones-Smith et al, Sweetened beverage taxes: Economic advantages and prices in keeping with family earnings, Food Policy (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102277
Provided by
University of Washington
Citation:
Sweetened beverage taxes produce web financial advantages for lower-income communities (2022, July 8)
retrieved 9 July 2022
from https://phys.org/information/2022-07-sweetened-beverage-taxes-net-economic.html
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