The Association Of A Sweetened Beverage Tax With Changes In Beverage Prices And Purchases At Independent Stores.

Sara N Bleich,Ana Peterhans,Christina A Roberto,Sophia Hua,Nandita Mitra,Jiali Yan,Caitlin M Lowery,Michael T Levasseur,Hannah G Lawman,Laura A Gibson

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01058

Abstract

In January2017 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, implemented an excise tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on beverages sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Small independent stores are an important yet understudied setting. They are visited frequently in urban and low-income areas, and sugary beverages are among the most commonly purchased items in them. We compared changes in beverage prices and purchases before and twelve months after tax implementation at small independent stores in Philadelphia and an untaxed control city, Baltimore, Maryland. Our sample included 134 stores with price data and 4,584 customer purchases. Compared with Baltimore, Philadelphia experienced significantly greater increases in the price of taxed beverages (1.81 cents per ounce, or 120.4percent of the tax) and significantly larger declines in the volume of taxed beverages sold (5.76 ounces, or 38.9percent) after tax implementation. Beverage excise taxes may be an effective policy tool for decreasing the purchase of sweetened drinks in small independent stores, particularly among populations at higher risk for sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.

Highlights

In January 2017 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, implemented an excise tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on beverages sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners
Study Design Using a natural experimental design, we examined beverage prices and customer purchases before and after implementation of the tax at small independent food retailers in Philadelphia compared to Baltimore, Maryland
Change In Beverage Prices The characteristics of price-audited stores were similar across Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the neighboring counties.[25]

Summary

Introduction

In January 2017 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, implemented an excise tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on beverages sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes are a promising policy approach to reduce SSB consumption, which is linked to several adverse health conditions.[1,2] Seven cities and counties in the United States have imposed taxes on sweetened beverages that range from 1 to 2 cents per ounce. Among these localities, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest (with a population of 1.6 million) and the only one that extends the tax to artificially sweetened beverages. It has the highest shares in its population of members of racial/ethnic minority groups (57 percent) and people living in poverty (26 percent),[3] and members of these groups are more likely to consume SSBs.[4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion