Prices, Sales, Consumer Spending, & Beverage Consumption after SSB Tax in Berkeley, CA
2017
This study examined the association of the first penny per ounce sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) excise tax with beverage prices, sales, store revenue/consumer spending, and usual beverage intake in Berkeley, California. Main outcomes and measures included changes in inflation-adjusted prices, beverage sales, consumers’ spending measured as store revenue in two large chains, and usual beverage intake.
One year following the implementation of the nation’s first large SSB tax, prices of SSBs increased in many, but not all settings, SSB sales declined, and sales of untaxed beverages (especially water) and overall study beverages rose in Berkeley. Overall consumer spending per transaction in the stores studied did not rise. Price increases for SSBs in two distinct data sources, their timing, and the patterns of change in taxed and untaxed beverage sales suggest that the observed changes may be attributable to the tax.
Prices, Sales, Consumer Spending, & Beverage Consumption after SSB Tax in Berkeley, CA
Source:
Silver LD, Ng SW, Ryan-Ibarra S et al. Changes in Prices, Sales, Consumer Spending, and Beverage Consumption One Year after a Tax in Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Berkeley, California, US: A Before-and-After Study. PLOS Medicine 2017; 14 (4): e1002283. https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1002283