Taxing Sweets: Sweetener Input Tax or Final Consumption Tax?

Zhen Miao, John Beghin and Helen Jensen

Staff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: In order to reduce obesity and associated costs, policymakers are considering various policies, including taxes, to change consumers' high-calorie consumption habits. We investigate two tax policies aimed at reducing added sweetener consumption. Both a consumption tax on sweet goods and a sweetener input tax can reach the same policy target of reducing added sweetener consumption. Both tax instruments are regressive, but the associated surplus losses are limited. The tax on sweetener inputs targets sweeteners directly and causes about five times less surplus loss than the final consumption tax. Previous analyses have overlooked this important point.

Keywords: consumption tax; demand; health policy; soda tax; sugar; added sweeteners (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-03-27
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc and nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Contemporary Economic Policy 2012, vol. 30 no. 3, pp. 344-361

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http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/papers/p12670-2011-03-27.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: TAXING SWEETS: SWEETENER INPUT TAX OR FINAL CONSUMPTION TAX? (2012)
Working Paper: Taxing sweets: sweetener input tax or final consumption tax? (2012)
Working Paper: Taxing Sweets: Sweetener Input Tax or Final Consumption Tax? (2010)
Working Paper: Taxing Sweets: Sweetener Input Tax or Final Consumption Tax? (2010)
Working Paper: Taxing Sweets: Sweetener Input Tax or Final Consumption Tax? (2010)
Working Paper: Taxing sweets: sweetener input tax or final consumption tax? (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:32670

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