Abstract
Another potential logic of soda/sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxation is to raise fiscal revenues, which may be earmarked for health care, health promotion or for the reduction of health inequities. In this chapter, we argue that a specific tax on SSBs is fiscally defensible because overconsumption of these beverages represents a significant public health issue and because targeting a limited scope of products is generally more acceptable and feasible. We also underline that soda taxes tend to live up to expectations in terms of revenues generated. We also refute the apparent antagonism between fiscal and behavioural logics and suggest that these may be concurrently pursued. Finally, building on international lessons from tobacco and soda taxation, we argue that earmarking soda tax revenues for health-related causes appears to be feasible and would likely increase public health benefits as well as the acceptability of the tax in the population.
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Notes
- 1.
The ballot of November 2014 mentioned that the revenues generated from the soda tax would be allocated to “[…] the general governmental needs” of the Berkeley population (City of Berkeley 2014, p. 2). However, a “Sugar Sweetened Beverage Products Panel of Experts” was then appointed to make recommendations about how the proceeds of the tax may be used from the general budget (Raguso 2016).
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Le Bodo, Y., Paquette, MC., De Wals, P. (2016). Raising Revenues from Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxation. In: Taxing Soda for Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33648-0_10
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