A New Wave of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Are They Meeting Policy Goals and Can We Do Better?

Abstract

Little progress has been made in reducing deaths from chronic noncommunicable diseases associated with being overweight or obese worldwide, prompting the World Health Organization and others to recommend the implementation of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). In response, SSB taxes have been widely implemented over the last decade, and a burgeoning literature aims at understanding their effects. We assess the state of knowledge regarding the impacts of SSB taxes and provide context for the results reported to date based on the recent consumer behavior literature and incentives of supply-chain intermediaries in modern food markets. Evidence suggests only a portion of a tax on distributors or manufacturers is passed forward to consumers, inducing only mild and highly variable impacts on SSB purchases. We argue that the literature provides no consistent evidence that SSB taxes have incentivized increased purchases of healthier beverages and caused overall SSB consumption to decrease. Finally, we consider the efficacy of SSB taxes, alone or in combination with other policies, as part of jurisdictions’ policy goals, including promoting healthier diets, generating revenue, and improving equity.