Sugary drink tax

Common card · No. 380222

A sugary drink tax, soda tax, or sweetened beverage tax (SBT) is a tax or surcharge (food-related fiscal policy) designed to reduce consumption of sweetened beverages by making them more expensive to purchase. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks. Fruit juices without added sugar are usually excluded, despite similar sugar content, though there is some debate on including them. This policy intervention is an effort to decrease obesity and its associated health effects. The tax is a matter of public debate in many countries and beverage producers like Coca-Cola often oppose it. Advocates such as national medical associations and the World Health Organization promote the tax as an example of a Pigouvian tax, aimed to discourage unhealthy diets and offset the growing economic costs of obesity.

Read on Wikipedia · Image David Shay, CC BY-SA 3.0