Sugary drink tax Sugary drink tax A sugary drink tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks. The tax is a matter of public debate in many countries and beverage producers like Coca-Cola often oppose it. Advocates such as national medical associations and the World Health Organization promote the tax as an example of Pigovian taxation, aimed to discourage unhealthy diets and offset the growing economic costs of obesity. Type II diabetes is a growing health concern
Sugary drink tax low-income families, adding education programs and studying the tax on how it impacts behavior. Seattle collected $4 million in the first four months of the tax. Coca-Cola has been under fire since 2015 when emails revealed that funding for scientific studies sought to influence research to be more favorable to soda. Research funded by soda companies are 34 times more likely to find soda has no significant health impacts on obesity or diabetes. Taxing soda can lead to a reduction in overall consumption, according to a scientific study published in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" in March 2010. The study