Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Reach a Turning Point.

Abstract

If there is one widely consumed comestible whose nutritional benefits approach zero and whose damaging potential is well-documented (1–3), it is the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB)2. This category includes a litany of drinks, beginning with the traditional (cane sugar- or corn syrup-sweetened) soda, and it expands to feature sport drinks, sweetened teas, fruit punches and lemonades, and beverages bearing misleading names such as “Vitamin Water.” What they have in common is few or no nutrients and an abundance of sugar. The documented harm of SSBs on human health, particularly among children and adolescents, ranges from dental caries to obesity, hyperactivity, and diabetes (2–4). Yet their low price and nearly addictive nature, coupled with heavy, clever marketing campaigns, has made the consumption of these beverages ubiquitous. Thus was born the notion of a tax on SSBs, which is being considered by more and more countries around the world that are confronting the global obesity epidemic as a fiscal measure to discourage consumption. The goal (either explicitly stated or otherwise) is twofold: one, by raising their prices, to lower their consumption, and two, by garnering tax revenue, potentially toward funding local public health and education efforts. In the US, even though most states already impose sales tax on SSBs, levying a higher tax of …