Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Economic Benefits and Costs According to Household Income

This project evaluates the effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in three U.S. cities, studying specifically:

• Quantifying the magnitude of tax payment regressivity in each of three large US cities (Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle) that have implemented SSB taxes.
• Assessing the global economic impacts of SSB tax policy in two ways:
  • 1) by estimating the amount of tax revenues benefitting low-income people and comparing this to the aggregate amount of tax paid by low-income households
  • 2) by calculating the net transfer of tax paid by high-income households to programs serving low-income households.
• Analyzing how variation in tax design across the cities affects the economic impact on low-income communities to inform policy makers designing future SSB tax policies.