Start Date: March 2019

ID #: 76299

Principal Investigator: Jessica Jones-Smith, PhD, MPH, RD

Co-Principal Investigator: James Krieger, MD, MPH

Organization: University of Washington

Funding Round: Round 11

See more related research

Share


Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has emerged as an important healthy food and weight policy over the past five years. Seven US cities and more than 30 countries across the globe have adopted taxes on sugary drinks. Initial evaluations have found that these taxes raise the prices of sugary drinks and decrease consumption substantially, and well as raise revenues that may further support healthy eating and address social determinants of health, such as early education. However, stakeholders have raised equity concerns given the regressive nature of excise taxes. Therefore, objective evidence is needed to determine the nature and extent of tax payment regressivity versus net progressivity of the full tax policy. Using data from three large cities with SSB taxes (Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle), this study aims to: 1) quantify the extent to which taxes on SSBs are regressive in their economic burden; 2) examine the net economic impact of SSB taxes by considering the progressive investments of tax revenues; and 3) analyze how variation in tax design across cities affects the economic impact on low-income communities.

Related Research

July 2022

Sweetened beverage taxes: Economic benefits and costs according to household income

Taxing sweetened beverages has emerged as an important and effective policy for addressing their overconsumption. However, taxes may place a greater economic burden on people with lower incomes. We assess the degree to which sweetened beverage taxes in three large U.S. cities placed an inequitable burden on populations with lower incomes by assessing spending on More

December 2022

Water is K’é: A Community-Based Intervention to Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption by Navajo Preschool Children

This research brief gives an overview of the Water is K’é intervention, conducted among Navajo Nation families. The intervention was delivered by early care and education teachers to households with children ages 2-5, and covered the cultural importance of water, health benefits of water, and alternatives to sugary drinks. At baseline, more than 70% of children already More

October 2022

Effects of Sugary Drink Countermarketing Videos on Caregivers’ Attitudes and Intentions to Serve Fruit Drinks and Toddler Milks to Young Children

This study aimed to test the effects of countermarketing videos addressing common misperceptions about ingredients and claims on children’s sugary drinks. An online randomized controlled experiment was conducted in January 2021 with US caregivers (n = 600) of young children (aged 8‒37 months) to assess the effects of watching countermarketing versus control videos on intentions to serve More