Health Experts Propose Soda Tax

According to ABC News,

Several of the nation’s leading health experts are calling for a tax on soda as a means of curbing America’s obesity-epidemic.

Their paper, appearing in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, calls for a tax on “sugar-sweetened” drinks in order to reduce the consumption of the drinks and lower health costs as well as fund government-run health programs.

“A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is really a double-win,” said Dr. David Ludwig, a co-author of the paper and director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital, Boston.

“We can raise much-needed dollars while likely reducing obesity prevalence, which is a major driver of health care costs, the paper states. “Ultimately the government needs to raise more money to cover the deficit, and in terms of ways of raising that revenue, a tax on sugar sweetened beverages is really a no-brainer.”

Unfortunately for the health experts who wrote the report, the effects of soda taxes have already been studied. Below is an excerpt from a paper by Jason Fletcher (Yale University), David Frisvold (Emory University), and Nathan Tefft (Bates College):

Our results, based on state soft drink sales and excise tax information between 1988 and 2006 and the National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey, suggest that soft drink taxation, as currently practiced in the United States, leads to a moderate reduction in soft drink consumption by children and adolescents. However, we show that this reduction in soda consumption is completely offset by increases in consumption of other high calorie drinks.