Abstract
The evidence reviewed in Chaps. 5 and 6 suggests that a tax on soda/sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) causing a 10–20 % price increase could result in a lower-average SSB consumption in the population. But beyond average values, would the poorest consumers be disproportionally burdened by the tax? Would they benefit from larger health gains? Overall, the evidence suggests that the financial contribution to tax revenues would be relatively modest for most consumers and not much different across income groups. Low-income households consuming large SSB amounts and not prone to reduce their consumption may be more negatively impacted than other consumers. As regards SSB taxation health benefits, these are hardly predictable (see Chap. 7) and it remains unclear whether these could be greater in lower-income households and in the heaviest SSB consumers. Inequity concerns surrounding SSB taxation could be somewhat mitigated through the earmarking of tax proceeds for health promotion causes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Although the differences here mentioned are statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) in particular because of a very large sample size, they may be considered of modest amplitude. For example, 32.7 % of youth whose both parents are unemployed declare consuming SSBs at least once a day, versus 25.4 % in youth whose one parent is unemployed, and versus 23.1 % in youth whose both parents are employed.
- 2.
Based on after-tax consumption simulated from Nielsen Homescan panel (2006).
- 3.
Based on after-tax consumption simulated from US nationally representative SSB consumption data.
- 4.
In Canada, the “take-home” market accounts for an estimated two-thirds of sales (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2015).
- 5.
Earmarking consists in “assigning revenues from designated sources to finance designated expenditures” (WHO 2012, p. 8).
References
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. (2015). The Canadian Soft Drink Industry. http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/industry-markets-and-trade/statistics-and-market-information/by-product-sector/processed-food-and-beverages/the-canadian-soft-drink-industry/?id=1172167862291. Accessed March 1, 2015.
Ayyagari, P., Deb, P., Fletcher, J., Gallo, W., & Sindelar, J. (2009). Sin taxes: Do heterogeneous responses undercut their value? (No. w15124). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w15124.pdf. Accessed February 25, 2016.
Barnhill, A., & King, K. F. (2013). Ethical agreement and disagreement about obesity prevention policy in the United States. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 1(2), 117–120. doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2013.21.
Barry, C. L., Niederdeppe, J., & Gollust, S. E. (2013). Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages: Results from a 2011 national public opinion survey. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 44(2), 158–163. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2012.09.065.
Bergeron, L. (2010). Alimentation: Boissons gazeuses: Coupables ? Protégez-vous, 31.
Briggs, A. D. M., Mytton, O. T., Kehlbacher, A., Tiffin, R., Rayner, M., & Scarborough, P. (2013a). Overall and income specific effect on prevalence of overweight and obesity of 20 % sugar sweetened drink tax in UK: Econometric and comparative risk assessment modelling study. BMJ, 347, f6189–f6189. doi:10.1136/bmj.f6189.
Briggs, A. D., Mytton, O. T., Madden, D., O’Shea, D., Rayner, M., & Scarborough, P. (2013b). The potential impact on obesity of a 10 % tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Ireland, an effect assessment modelling study. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 860. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-860.
Brownell, K. D., Farley, T., Willett, W. C., Popkin, B. M., Chaloupka, F. J., Thompson, J. W., & Ludwig, D. S. (2009). The public health and economic benefits of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages. New England Journal of Medicine, 361(16), 1599–1605. doi:10.1056/NEJMhpr0905723.
Butterworth, T. (2012, January 12). Will a soda tax really save 26,000 lives, billions of dollars? Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/trevorbutterworth/2012/01/12/will-a-soda-tax-really-save-26000-lives-billions-of-dollars/#40549e4f5bb1. Accessed February 24, 2016.
Camirand, H., Blanchet, C., & Pica, L. A. (2012). Habitudes alimentaires. In L’enquête québécoise sur la santé des jeunes du secondaire, 2010–2011. Vol. Tome 1. Le visage des jeunes d’aujourd’hui : leur santé physique et leurs habitudes de vie (pp. 71–96). Québec: Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Colchero, M. A., Popkin, B. M., Rivera, J. A., & Ng, S. W. (2016). Beverage purchases from stores in Mexico under the excise tax on sugar sweetened beverages: observational study. BMJ, h6704. doi:10.1136/bmj.h6704.
Colchero, M. A., Salgado, J. C., Unar-Munguía, M., Hernández-Ávila, M., & Rivera-Dommarco, J. A. (2015). Price elasticity of the demand for sugar sweetened beverages and soft drinks in Mexico. Economics and Human Biology, 19, 129–137. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2015.08.007.
Drewnowski, A. (2007). The real contribution of added sugars and fats to obesity. Epidemiologic Reviews, 29(1), 160–171. doi:10.1093/epirev/mxm011.
Elgrably-Lévy, N. (2013, March 14). Une taxe imbuvable. Le Journal de Montréal, 25.
Étilé, F. (2012). La taxation nutritionnelle comme outil de santé publique: Justifications et effets attendus. Cahiers de Nutrition et de Diététique, 47(1), 25–34. doi:10.1016/j.cnd.2011.12.002.
Étilé, F., & Sharma, A. (2015). Do high consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages respond differently to price changes? A finite mixture IV-Tobit approach: Heterogeneity in response to soft drink tax. Health Economics, 24(9), 1147–1163. doi:10.1002/hec.3157.
Eyles, H., Ni Mhurchu, C., Nghiem, N., & Blakely, T. (2012). Food pricing strategies, population diets, and non-communicable disease: A systematic review of simulation studies. PLoS Medicine, 9(12), e1001353. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001353.
Finkelstein, E. A., Zhen, C., Bilger, M., Nonnemaker, J., Farooqui, A. M., & Todd, J. E. (2013). Implications of a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax when substitutions to non-beverage items are considered. Journal of Health Economics, 32(1), 219–239. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.10.005.
Finkelstein, E. A., Zhen, C., Nonnemaker, J., & Todd, J. E. (2010). Impact of targeted beverage taxes on higher- and lower-income households. Archives of Internal Medicine, 170(22), 2028–2034. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.449.
Gustavsen, G. (2005). Public policies and the demand for carbonated soft drinks: A censored quantile regression approach. Presented at the European Association of Agricultural Economists-2005 International Congress, Copenhagen (Denmark). http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/24737/1/cp05gu01.pdf. Accessed February 25, 2016.
Lin, B.-H., Smith, T. A., Lee, J.-Y., & Hall, K. D. (2011). Measuring weight outcomes for obesity intervention strategies: the case of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Economics and Human Biology, 9(4), 329–341. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2011.08.007.
Nghiem, N., Wilson, N., Genç, M., & Blakely, T. (2013). Understanding price elasticities to inform public health research and intervention studies: Key issues. American Journal of Public Health, 103(11), 1954–1961. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301337.
Peretti-Watel, P., & Constance, J. (2009). “It’s All We Got Left”. Why poor smokers are less sensitive to cigarette price increases. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 6(2), 608–621. doi:10.3390/ijerph6020608.
Powell, L. M., Chriqui, J. F., Khan, T., Wada, R., & Chaloupka, F. J. (2013). Assessing the potential effectiveness of food and beverage taxes and subsidies for improving public health: a systematic review of prices, demand and body weight outcomes: Review of prices, demand and weight. Obesity Reviews, 14(2), 110–128. doi:10.1111/obr.12002.
Sharma, A., Hauck, K., Hollingsworth, B., & Siciliani, L. (2014). The effects of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages across different income groups: The impact of SSB taxes on different income groups. Health Economics, 23(9), 1159–1184. doi:10.1002/hec.3070.
Sturm, R., Powell, L. M., Chriqui, J. F., & Chaloupka, F. J. (2010). Soda taxes, soft drink consumption, and children’s body mass index. Health Affairs, 29(5), 1052–1058. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0061.
Tiffin, R., Kehlbacher, A., & Salois, M. (2015). The effects of a soft drink tax in the UK. Health Economics, 24(5), 583–600. doi:10.1002/hec.3046.
Wada, R., Han, E., & Powell, L. M. (2015). Associations between soda prices and intake: Evidence from 24-h dietary recall data. Food Policy, 55, 54–60. doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.05.009.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2012). Tobacco taxation and innovative health-care financing. New Delhi, India: World Health Organization. http://www.searo.who.int/tobacco/documents/2012-pub1.pdf. Accessed January 22, 2016.
Zhang, Q., Jones, S., Ruhm, C. J., & Andrews, M. (2013). Higher food prices may threaten food security status among American low-income households with children. The Journal of Nutrition, 143(10), 1659–1665. doi:10.3945/jn.112.170506.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Le Bodo, Y., Paquette, MC., De Wals, P. (2016). Distribution of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxation Effects in the Population. In: Taxing Soda for Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33648-0_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33648-0_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33647-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33648-0
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)