If your favourite sugary drink is heavily taxed, will you still buy and drink it regularly? A major international study thinks it’ll deter people, especially the poor. This aims to lay to rest concerns about whether taxing products like sugar, alcohol and tobacco reduces unhealthy behaviour and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) arising from it.
In a series of five papers published in The Lancet says that these ‘sin taxes’ not just work but go a long way in helping the poor rather than ‘penalising’ them. It adds that the impact of NCDs is increasing in low and middle-income countries.
This study published a day before the UK introduced a sugar tax. And now, experts want other countries to follow suit to curb unhealthy eating, drinking and smoking habits.
These lifestyle habits have triggered a dramatic rise in NCDs like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. They’ve beaten infectious diseases to become to biggest killers globally.
The study looked at 13 countries: India, Chile, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Albania, Poland, Turkey, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Niger, Nigeria, and Timor-Leste.
It explains that wealthier families spend more on soft drinks, snacks and alcohol. The poor respond to these taxes by buying less and hence improving their health, the study concluded.
The study also cited past examples. In Mexico, tax on sugary drinks cut consumption of an average of 4.2 litres soft drinks per person. Among lower income groups, there was a 17 percent decrease in purchases and almost no change in higher income groups.
Dr. Rachel Nugent, chair of the Lancet Taskforce on NCDs and economics said: The evidence suggests that concerns about higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and soft drinks harming the poor are overstated.
