From an email I received:
A perspective article published on April 8, 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), raises the idea of adding an additional tax on high sugar drinks. The NEJM article notes that sugared drinks may represent the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic in the United States. They identify drinks such as soda sweetened with sugar, corn syrup, or other sweeteners and other carbonated and uncarbonated drinks, such as sports and energy drinks.
ABC news reported in an April 8, 2009 news story that the governor of New York was proposing an 18 percent tax on sugared beverages. The ABC article addresses the question if higher taxes would lower the consumption of sugared drinks by looking at the example of tobacco. Increased taxes on tobacco have been credited with dramatically lowering usage. They then claim that economic studies on soft drinks show that a 15 percent tax on sugared beverages should drop consumption by 12 to 15 percent, and higher taxes would have stronger effects.
The authors of the NEJM article summed up their conclusions by stating, "A penny-per-ounce excise tax could reduce consumption of sugared beverages by more than 10%. It is difficult to imagine producing behavior change of this magnitude through education alone, even if government devoted massive resources to the task. In contrast, a sales tax on sugared drinks would generate considerable revenue, and as with the tax on tobacco, it could become a key tool in efforts to improve health."
Opening quote of the article:
Sugar, rum, and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which are become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation.
— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Full article:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp0902392
A perspective article published on April 8, 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), raises the idea of adding an additional tax on high sugar drinks. The NEJM article notes that sugared drinks may represent the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic in the United States. They identify drinks such as soda sweetened with sugar, corn syrup, or other sweeteners and other carbonated and uncarbonated drinks, such as sports and energy drinks.
ABC news reported in an April 8, 2009 news story that the governor of New York was proposing an 18 percent tax on sugared beverages. The ABC article addresses the question if higher taxes would lower the consumption of sugared drinks by looking at the example of tobacco. Increased taxes on tobacco have been credited with dramatically lowering usage. They then claim that economic studies on soft drinks show that a 15 percent tax on sugared beverages should drop consumption by 12 to 15 percent, and higher taxes would have stronger effects.
The authors of the NEJM article summed up their conclusions by stating, "A penny-per-ounce excise tax could reduce consumption of sugared beverages by more than 10%. It is difficult to imagine producing behavior change of this magnitude through education alone, even if government devoted massive resources to the task. In contrast, a sales tax on sugared drinks would generate considerable revenue, and as with the tax on tobacco, it could become a key tool in efforts to improve health."
Opening quote of the article:
Sugar, rum, and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which are become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation.
— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Full article:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp0902392
