Sugary Drink Taxes and Pricing Policies

Sugary drink taxes are increasingly common in US cities and in countries across the globe. Our work uses simulation modeling to identify how to design taxes to maximize their benefits on health and health disparities. Our work has shown, for example, that taxing the sugar content in beverages instead of taxing beverage volume would increase the health and economic benefits of sugary drink taxes by 30%. This simple policy design change is now being considered by policymakers worldwide.

Using quasi-experiments, we have also evaluated how consumers respond to sugary drink taxes in the US. Our work was the first to show that the Berkeley, CA tax was effective at raising prices of sugary drinks. We have also found that the Philadelphia sugary drink tax did not cause unintended increases in purchases of non-taxed foods, beverages, or alcohol.

We have also studied other pricing policies, such as minimum price laws. Our work has found that these policies could reduce sugary drink consumption, with larger benefits among people with lower income and education.

Featured Articles

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Population Health Outcomes.  Falbe J, Grummon AH, Krieger JW. JAMA Pediatr. 2022 Feb 1;176(2):129-131. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5051.

Designing better sugary drink taxes.  Grummon AH, Lockwood BB, Taubinsky D, Allcott H. Science. 2019 Sep 6;365(6457):989-990. doi: 10.1126/science.aav5199. 

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Pricing Policies: Simulation of Minimum Price Laws and Taxes in New York City. Grummon AH, Golden SD. Am J Prev Med. 2022;62(3):e159-e168. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2021.08.029