Our Work

Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Economic Benefits and Costs According to Household Income

This project evaluates the effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in three U.S. cities, studying specifically:

  • Quantifying the magnitude of tax payment regressivity in each of three large US cities (Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle) that have implemented SSB taxes.
  • Assessing the global economic impacts of SSB tax policy in two ways:
    • 1) by estimating the amount of tax revenues benefitting low-income people and comparing this to the aggregate amount of tax paid by low-income households
    • 2) by calculating the net transfer of tax paid by high-income households to programs serving low-income households.
  • Analyzing how variation in tax design across the cities affects the economic impact on low-income communities to inform policy makers designing future SSB tax policies.

Project Sponsor

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research

Project Team

 

Jones-Smith JC, Knox MA, Coe NB, Walkinshaw LP, Schoof J, Hamilton D, Hurvitz PM, Krieger J. Sweetened beverage taxes: Economic benefits and costs according to household income. Food Policy Jul 2022;110 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102277