Taxing Sugary Drinks, Article Review Example

Due to the fact that obesity rates continue to escalate in countries around the world, beverage companies and governments continue to battle in the legal arena over the implementation of taxes on sugary drinks. Hungary has taxed sugary drinks for the past four years, and the French government introduced a tax on all beverages with added sugar beginning in 2012. While several countries and states have successfully implemented taxes on sugary drinks, the beverage industry has also won in the legal battles as well as proposals for sugar taxes in various states have been struck down while European governments have backtracked on a ten percent tax that would have been imposed on sweetened drinks in countries such as Slovenia. Denmark also repealed its soda tax while striking down future proposals on a broader tax on sugar use. Governments are implementing taxes on sugary drinks in the hopes of reducing the average waist size of people in addition to abating diabetes rates, which have exponentially increased in the past decade. Guzzlers of sugar drinks are concentrated in countries such as Mexico, which coincides with rising rates of diabetes and obesity that continue to cause premature death. However, the beverage industry contends that the government cannot regulate what people consume and drink, and pinpointing sugary drinks as the cause of obesity and rising diabetes rates is unfair. There are fears that raising the prices of sugary drinks will do very little to alter eating and drinking behaviors, although economists across the world have attested to the fact that higher prices has resulted in a dip in demand for sodas. Ultimately, governments need to continue to devise and implement more effect taxes on sodas and beverages with high concentrations of sugar. The evidence for their efficacy is still wonting, as taxes have not been implemented for a long enough period of time to evaluate whether they are yielding tangible results. As such, more research needs to be conducted into order to reify proven benefits of implementing taxes to better address the obesity epidemic within the economic arena.

The author of this article intended to expound on the ongoing dialogue about the efficacy and currency of passing and implementing taxes on sugary drinks in order to provide an economic incentive not to consume sugary drinks. The obesity epidemic continues to hit various nations and governments hard as it wracks the healthcare systems across the world in an adverse manner. To do so, the author outlined what countries have done to address the problem of consuming too much sugar via economic initiatives and whether or not they have yielded any positive results. Both sides of the argument are presented in order to provide an objective and balanced analysis of the nascent solution to the problem of obesity across the world. The author achieved the objectives, especially since the issue is in its nascent stages and very little is known about the taxation of sugary beverages at the global level rather than just in the United States.

I enjoyed this article because it offered a balanced account about the efforts at the global level regarding the taxation of sugary and carbonated beverages. I have hitherto only heard about the taxation and/or banning of selling soda in cities such as New York, which has caused political controversy due to the perceived overreach of the federal government in the lives of American citizens. This article sheds light on the economic issues involved in the taxation of sugary drinks and whether or not from an economic perspective rather than a political one that the taxation is effective.

Link to article: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21679259-taxes-fizzy-drinks-seem-work-intended-stopping-slurping