A few years on, has the UK Sugar tax proved successful? by Ayaan Chida

Hello to all of our Cellfie readers. We hope you are all well and, if you are a student, enjoying the summer break so far. Today, we bring an insightful article into a controversial topic by the talented Ayaan. Obesity is such a pressing issue for our society and it is interesting to reflect on how policies such as the "Sugar Tax" have been used to mitigate against it.

Looking back from 2018 when Theresa May`s Conservative government introduced the sugar tax this article looks at the impacts, faults, failures and possible successes of the sugar tax from a balanced lens. Before a full evaluation to put into context officially the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (sugar tax) was introduced in 2018 which placed a 24p tax on drinks including drinks that contained 8g of sugar within 100ml along with 18p a litre tax on drinks with between 5-8g of sugar per 100ml (Thornton et al, 2018).

The aim of the sugar tax was to combat rising levels of childhood obesity by reducing sugar consumption. Yet, 2019 and 2020 data has found that “the 2019/20 school year has found that obesity levels in Reception have gone up from 9.7% in 2018-19 to 9.9% in 2019-20" (editor et al, 2020). Also, the pattern has continued with Year 6 children, where figures found the obesity rate has increased from 20.2% in 2018-19 to 21% in 2019-20(editor et al,2020). This data is extremely worrying the fact that even after the sugar tax was bought in that child obesity has continued to skyrocket which we know childhood diabetes has the impact to adulthood including increasing risk of cancers like colon cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in adulthood (WHO, n.d). Though some may say that though there are increases in childhood obesity rate that this is less due to the failings of the sugar tax but more due to issues like unhealthy diets including other foods that contain more sugar being unhealthy for children and that an NHS national health programme could do the trick to tackle high childhood obesity rates alongside the preexisting sugar tax.

Moreover, there has been evidence that the Sugar Tax has successfully worked through the decreased consumption of excessively sugar containing soft drinks. Public Heath England found that in a report found that there was a 29% decrease in sugar content per 100ml within drinks and that there has been a push by drink manufacturers for low sugar or even sugar free drink alternatives (Bridge et al, 2019). The evidence indicates that the Sugar Tax has done its part regarding tackling high sugar content in drinks which plays a factor towards childhood diabetes but now there should be a push that foods like cakes and sweets play their fair share to decrease the sugar content in these delicious snacks. Researchers at Queen Mary`s University of London found that 97% of cakes and 74% of biscuits have “unnecessary amounts of sugar” (Bridge et al,2019). The fight for decreasing the epidemic of childhood obesity can now be directed towards the sweet treats industries with Public Health England stating that “half of children’s calorie intake is coming from sugary treats and drinks” (King et al,2019). This means “on average each child has at least three treats a day. “Over a year they munch through 400 biscuits, 120 cakes and pastries, 100 portions of sweets, 70 chocolate bars and 150 sugary juices or cans of pop” (King et al,2019). Children consuming such high levels of sugary snacks will overtime contribute to health side effects and only worsens childhood obesity than promoting healthy alternatives so that no child suffers. Taxes on snacks have been met with their fair share of criticism by the food and drink sector with the issues on taxes on sugary taxes basing the fact obesity is a condition that for children is based on personal responsibility when eating and drinking. So more healthy physical exercise is a good way to tackle childhood obesity than higher taxes. There could be devasting economic impacts like the risk of job loss and increased food and drink taxing would pose a risk affecting lower earning groups on the socioeconomic ladder, (Bridge et al, 2019).

In terms of the Sugar Tax debate, spending habits on food and drink are important to know if the tax has deterred people into a healthier lifestyle. One study found, there was little impact in the sugar tax where since the sugar tax was in place and enforced 62% of UK consumers did not change their consumption habits (Ramanauskas et al, 2019). In addition, as the saying goes taxes tend to be paid by people and not businesses, in the sense the cost would be both economically crippling (Oxford Study saw the Sugar Tax leading to over 4,000 job losses), (Ramanauskas et al, 2019). In a liberal democracy,like the UK, consumers should get to choose directly what they want to consume rather than an increasingly growing nanny state stepping in with red tape regulations to tell consumers what to do with their hard-earned income.

All in all, the issue of increased tax on sugary confectionery is one that is based on both persuading consumers to buy healthier alternatives for their children, companies continuing to advertise sugar free and reduced sugar food choices on the market and lastly down to Parliament to decide if continued increased taxes on food and drink would be the right way forward instead of dialogue and discussion.

References:

LSHTM. (n.d.). The UK has introduced a sugar tax, but will it work? [online] Available at: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/research-action/features/uk-sugar-tax-will-it-work#:~:text=The%20country%20introduced%20its%20tax.

Editor (n.d.). Childhood obesity rates continue to climb. [online] Diabetes. Available at: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2020/nov/childhood-obesity-rates-continue-to-climb.html#:~:text=The%20National%20Child%20Measurement%20Programme.

WHO. (n.d.). WHO | Why does childhood overweight and obesity matter? [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood_consequences/en/#:~:text=Childhood%20obesity%20is%20associated%20with.

Bridge, G. (2019). Sugary drinks tax is working – now it’s time to target cakes, biscuits and snacks. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/sugary-drinks-tax-is-working-now-its-time-to-target-cakes-biscuits-and-snacks-124325.

The Independent. (2018). Parents told not to give their children more than two sugary snacks a day. [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/children-two-sugar-snack-limit-max-day-calories-health-nhs-weight-diet-a8137556.html [Accessed 17 Apr. 2021].

TaxPayers’ Alliance. (2018). Why sugar taxes are a bad idea. [online] Available at: https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/why_sugar_taxes_are_a_bad_idea [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].