The working model here is cigarette taxes. But the question of displacement (replacing one unhealthy behavior with another unhealthy behavior) lurks in the background. That is, if all the soda drinkers switch to candy bars, is that a good thing?
On the other hand, maybe such a tax would cause people to think twice about the health consequences of sugar.
A plan to tax sugary drinks could help curb the nation’s growing obesity epidemic and increase federal revenue, according to the director of the CDC.If sugary drinks were taxed at $.01 per ounce, the U.S. could take in $100 billion to $200 billion over the next decade, Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, told public health workers and antiobesity advocates at the CDC’s “Weight of the Nation” conference, which kicked off here today.
Dr. Frieden said the average American consumes about 250 more calories per day than a decade ago. Of that, about 120 calories are from soda and other sugar sweetened beverages, he said.
The average person is 23 pounds overweight, Dr. Frieden added, so small reductions in caloric intake could make a difference.
“Anything that decreases the availability and increases the cost is likely to be effective,” he said. “The challenge, I think, is a political one of getting that approved,” he said.
Indeed, raising taxes on unhealthy items has already proved politically unpopular in the healthcare reform efforts on the Hill.
