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Study: Soda tax would need to be high to be effective

By: NWHF Staff | Posted on: April 7th, 2010 | 1 comments | Share:
Categories: Economic Issues • Policies & Laws • Public Health

According to a study published online in Health Affairs on April 7, 2010, small taxes on soda do little to reduce soft drink consumption or prevent childhood obesity, but larger levies probably would.

“Small taxes will not prevent obesity,” said Roland Sturm, lead author of the new research, and a senior economist at the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif.

The study used information from a 2004 national survey of about 7,300 fifth-graders and researchers looked at how children’s height and weight had changed over the previous two years and how often the kids said they drank soda and sports drinks. The researchers also reviewed taxes on carbonated drinks that were in effect in 2004.

Roughly two-thirds of the children lived in states that had a tax on soda greater than on other food items. The highest was 7 cents tax on each dollar’s worth of soda. The average was about 4 cents.

They found the taxes made no real difference on overall soda consumption or on obesity for kids overall. They did have a small effect on certain children from families with an annual income of $25,000 or less. Those kids — who drank about seven cans of soda a week, on average — drank one can fewer because of the taxes, Sturm said.

However, if the taxes were closer to 18 cents on the dollar, Sturm calculated it would make a significant difference.

In an Associated Press story, Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, said that most of the taxes tend to be enough to bring in some extra money for struggling state budgets, but small enough not to rile soda manufacturers or significantly change buying habits…“Taxes have to be large enough to affect consumption.” he said.

Brownell has called for a tax as high as 12 percent.

Something else Brownell has called for is a dedication of that tax to obesity prevention programs, which was not addressed in the Health Affairs article.

In the CHP Conversation blog, our community has been largely supportive of taxes on soda, but many have criticized that idea, arguing, instead to focus on reducing corn subsidies to lower the price of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Also, in a CHP public opinion poll, more Oregonians support, rather than oppose, taxes on “harmful products such as soda and tobacco.” Furthermore, Oregonians, are more supportive of a tax, by a nearly two-to-one margin, if the tax is used to address the health issues caused by those products (such as tooth decay or obesity with soda).

But most people don’t want their soda taxed, according to the , which represents soda manufacturers.

Christopher Gindlesperger, spokesman for the American Beverage Association, said “The Rand study confirms that small taxes on soda don’t reduce obesity, and offers no evidence that larger taxes would do any better.”

“Taxes don’t work” he said.

Do you agree?