British Columbia launched a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks in April. (AP Picture/Elaine Thompson)
It’s straightforward to imagine that public well being measures, equivalent to taxing unhealthy meals, are most profitable when they’re based mostly on the most effective obtainable proof. Nevertheless, analysis means that evidence-based policy-making doesn’t all the time dictate public response. Researchers have additionally famous tensions between several types of proof when establishing the legitimacy of a coverage.
We research taxes positioned on meals which can be deemed unhealthy, and discover scientific proof has not dominated the debates over the legitimacy of those measures. As a substitute, a meals tax’s possibilities of survival are based mostly on the power of political pursuits to create a profitable narrative surrounding the coverage’s goal.
We evaluate Denmark, which applied and rapidly repealed a tax on saturated fat in 2011-12, and Eire, which applied a sugar-sweetened beverage tax in 2018 that has remained in place.
A story of two taxes
Our findings display how sure public well being measures are made acceptable to the general public. They inform us concerning the significance of narratives within the profitable implementation of comparable meals taxes in Canada. Additionally they increase questions on when related narratives could also be related to different kinds of public well being measures.
What formed public dialogue and controversy over meals taxes in Denmark and Eire? In each these international locations, the success or failure of the tax will depend on two elements. First, how sympathetic have been potential “winners and losers” below the tax? Second, did earlier insurance policies present a template for the general public to grasp and doubtlessly settle for the tax?
A brief-lived fats tax in Denmark
Denmark’s “fats tax” has been described as a failure as a result of its fast repeal. The two.3 per cent tax on meals excessive in saturated fat was adopted with the objective of addressing Denmark’s weight problems charges and lifestyle-related diseases. Nevertheless, it confronted backlash after its introduction in October 2011 and was repealed in November 2012.
Denmark’s 2.3 per cent tax on meals excessive in saturated fats confronted backlash after its introduction in October 2011, and was repealed in November 2012.
(Shutterstock)
Denmark made the choice to undertake the fats tax based mostly on a suggestion from professional committees finding out the “weight problems disaster.” Consultants indicated {that a} tax on fat would doubtlessly have constructive results on public well being. Additionally they raised considerations concerning the affect on low-income teams. Nevertheless, the restricted professional help for this coverage was not a central level of dialogue within the media narratives.
Though Denmark has traditionally had excessive taxes on sure meals merchandise to generate income, these taxes weren’t framed as well being insurance policies. The general public was unfamiliar with each the thought of a well being tax, and paying extra for the products the fats tax focused. This meant the media narrative centered on the tax’s damaging impacts on shoppers and trade moderately than its well being implications.
The fats tax primarily focused the meat and dairy industries in Denmark. Trade stakeholders argued that the tax would severely affect jobs, low-income households or push shoppers to purchase groceries exterior of Denmark. The media narrative pointed to the tax focusing on dietary staples, which made frequent purchases costlier.
The dominant media narrative was that the fats tax was dangerous to Denmark’s economic system, important industries and households. There have been specialists that supported or critiqued the general public well being proof behind the tax. Nevertheless, the first causes for backlash in opposition to the tax have been unrelated to scientific proof. As a substitute, they have been centred on the social and financial impacts on Danes.
A steady sugar tax in Eire
Eire’s sugar-sweetened drinks tax was applied as an effort to handle what specialists recognized as a childhood weight problems disaster. It was backed by the Royal School of Physicians of Eire and the Irish Coronary heart Basis. Whereas the professional help for a well being tax was stronger in Eire than it was in Denmark, the development of a sympathetic narrative in help of the sugar tax didn’t relaxation on the standard of proof.
Eire’s tax on sugar-sweetened drinks was successful.
(Pixabay)
At the moment, Coca-Cola was below hearth within the media for its promoting campaigns stated to be focusing on kids throughout an weight problems epidemic. The Irish media in contrast this to tobacco firms, as each “industries promote a product that’s related to a serious public well being threat” and typically promote to weak populations. Eire had beforehand established a tobacco tax to curb consumption, so the idea of a well being tax was acquainted, but in addition sympathetic because it may benefit kids.
The design of the tax was additionally acquainted due to Eire’s current value-added tax (VAT) system, which is a tiered system that taxes items at totally different charges. Sugary drinks have been already taxed on the highest price at 23 per cent, alongside meals which can be usually thought-about unhealthy equivalent to alcohol or sweets. Though the tax elevated the value of sugar-sweetened drinks additional, the general public was already acquainted with paying extra for sugary drinks as non-essential items.
Beverage firms reacted equally to stakeholders in Denmark. Nevertheless, because of the damaging notion of the beverage trade, and the sympathetic body of the childhood weight problems disaster, trade opposition was not portrayed sympathetically within the media.
The childhood weight problems disaster was the precedence in media protection, and people critiquing the coverage didn’t have a robust narrative to help their arguments. Total, the beverage tax maintained longevity because of the acquainted and positively framed narrative supporting the coverage.
Canada’s first sugar tax
The scientific foundation for well being taxes on meals could have minimal affect on the success of those insurance policies.
(AP Picture/Matt Rourke)
In April 2021, British Columbia grew to become the primary Canadian province to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, a transfer that the federal government described as a response to recommendation from well being professionals. If B.C.’s sugary drinks tax is profitable, it might encourage different provinces to comply with swimsuit. Whereas the tax might have well being advantages, the scientific foundation for well being taxes on meals seems to have minimal affect on whether or not these insurance policies are applied and keep in place.
Within the media narratives surrounding the European circumstances, scientific proof was unimportant. As a substitute, a profitable narrative defending the tax rested on two elements. First was the familiarity of the tax as a result of current insurance policies. Second was the framing of the goal inhabitants: the tax was seen to assist kids in Eire, and harm important industries in Denmark.
Understanding the function of narratives can inform how these coverage selections are designed and justified, and supply classes for policy-makers in Canadian provinces.
Katherine Boothe receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Analysis Council of Canada and the McMaster Way forward for Canada Undertaking.
Nicole Fiorillo doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that might profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.