Tax Sugar, Alcohol, Tobacco – It’ll Help Curb Diseases, Says Study

Introduce sugar tax like alcohol and tobacco to curb unhealthy eating, drinking and smoking habits, say experts.

Governments across the world are using various means to limit the production of sugar.

(Photo: iStock)

If your favourite sugary drink is sold with heavy tax, will you still 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.

The 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 comes a day before 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.

If your favourite sugary drink is sold with heavy tax, will you still drink it regularly?

‘Sin Taxes’ Paid by Rich Help Reduce Impact on Poor

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.

In India, wealthier households spent seven times more on alcohol and three times more on soft drinks and snacks compared to poorer households. So those households end up paying a larger proportion of any tax.

Meanwhile, 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.