GENEVA -- Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages got a boost this month with the release of a World Health Organization (WHO) report that suggests such taxes are effective in the battle against obesity.
In the report, titled Fiscal Policies for Diet and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO says "there is reasonable and increasing evidence that appropriately designed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages would result in proportional reductions in consumption." It further suggests taxing bodies aim to increase the retail price "by 20% or more" for the best results.
It goes on to suggest governing bodies look to subsidize fresh fruits and vegetables, aiming to "reduce prices by 10% to 30%" to effectively increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
"Consistent with the evidence on tobacco taxes, specific excise taxes—as opposed to sales or other taxes—based on a percentage of retail price, are likely to be most effective,” the report said.
The report, which stems from a WHO Technical Meeting held in May 2015, also addresses the barriers to adopting taxes on sugary beverages, noting that taxing bodies “experience great challenges in policy implementation from the undue pressure of the food and beverage industries. Oppositional arguments against taxes are usually either false or greatly overstated.”
Common myths, the report says, relate to negative effects on jobs, businesses and low-income consumers.
“As has been confirmed by recent studies in California and Illinois in the USA, sugar-sweetened beverage taxes are likely to lead to a net increase in jobs, in spite of a small decrease in jobs in the beverage sector,” the report says. “This occurs because consumers redirect their purchases toward untaxed products, thus stimulating growth in other nonbeverage sectors.”
In response to the report, the American Beverage Association said, “Simply put, taxes don’t make people healthy. Instead of fruitlessly pursing a Band-Aid fix to solve obesity, we should work together to advance real and lasting solutions that will help people to balance all they eat and drink, not just the very small portion of calories we get from beverages that contain sugar. Information on how to maintain a balanced lifestyle and lower-calorie choices to help achieve it is the realistic approach that works.”
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