Bloomberg: Tax Soda to Help Fight Obesity
Editorial Board

“…Eating too much added sugar has become one of the riskiest health behaviors in the modern world. … Governments everywhere should tax sugar to persuade people to cut back. … Though it’s too early to be sure that the taxes will save lives, they’re likely to, because they clearly steer people — especially lower-income people — away from added sugar. … Sugar taxes should be smarter as well as higher. Most are applied per unit of liquid; it would be better to set them per unit of sugar, thus encouraging beverage makers to minimize sugar content per can or bottle. … As more governments introduce or raise soda taxes, they also need to keep careful track of their effects. The evidence so far confirms that they change behavior, which suggests they should be applied as well to added sugar in foods. Taxes on sugar won’t solve the world’s obesity problem. But they’re helping, and can be made to help more” (5/14).