Don’t Expect Soda Tax to Curb Obesity

A new study finds only the middle class — not the rich or the poor — are likely to change their behavior with a soda tax.

Opponents of so-called soda taxes often argue that they would disproportionately punish low-income people. The poor buy more pop than the rich, who you’d more likely find in line at a fresh-fruit smoothie bar than in the carbonated beverage aisle at the grocery store, the thinking goes.

But a new study examining the potential effects of hefty taxes on sugary beverages — such as those that have been considered in New York, Colorado and California — specifically looked at different income classes and found a pair of surprising results. Low-income groups aren’t financially hit much harder than high-income households (the average cost to any family of a tax as high as 40 percent would be only about $28 a year). And neither group loses much weight in the process, the theoretical goal of having soda taxes in the first place.

http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/dont-expect-soda-tax-to-curb-obesity-26341/