Turns Out Mexico’s Soda Tax Is Totally Working
Last year, Mexico implemented a soda tax to discourage consumers from drinking too much sugar. Carbonated beverages were priced at one peso for every liter throughout the country, Wired reports. This change increased soda costs by 10 percent.
On average, Mexicans consume about 43 gallons of soda per capita annually. This comes out to 40 percent more than the United States. The neighboring countries, however, are pretty close when it comes to diabetes rates among the adult population.
Since the tax, soda purchases dropped six percent and rose to 12 percent by the end of the year.
We’d say that’s a success. Now, it looks like consumer advocates working to remove taxes from the sales of bottled water and raise the tax for sodas even further. The goal is to deter people from sugar with crazy expensive soda and cheap, clean water.
Hopefully, if the US decides to catch up to Mexico’s soda model, we’ll see a lot less diabetes.
