The impact of WHO food and drink taxes on a typical household
17 May 2018
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Summary:
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- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments to raise the price of sugar-sweetened beverages by twenty per cent and to increase taxes on alcohol. It also supports taxes on food that is high in sugar, salt and/or fat. Michael Bloomberg, a WHO Ambassador, has set up the Task Force on Fiscal Policy to lobby for such taxes.
- ‘Sin taxes’ of this kind raise the cost of living and are financially regressive. If all food and drink products that WHO regards as ‘unhealthy’ were subject to a twenty per cent tax, the cost of a typical basket of goods would rise by £458 a year in the UK, $612 a year in the USA, €546 a year in Italy and €607 a year in Ireland.
- The overall cost to consumers each year could be £12.4 billion in the UK, $72 billion in the USA, €13.5 billion in Italy, and €1 billion in Ireland.
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