Can targeted food taxes and subsidies improve the diet? Distributional effects among income groups

Can targeted food taxes and subsidies improve the diet? Distributional effects among income groups

This paper analyses distributional effects of revenue-neutral tax reforms aimed at improving dietary quality and encouraging healthier grain consumption. Using data on household grain purchases, we analyse both the impact on dietary quality and the tax incidence among income groups of VAT reforms and excise duty reforms. The VAT reforms include subsidies of healthy products (products labelled w...

Modelling income group differences in the health and economic impacts of targeted food taxes and subsidies.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects, by income group, of targeted food taxes and subsidies on nutrition, health and expenditure in the UK. METHODS A model based on consumption data and demand elasticity was constructed to predict the effects of four food taxation-subsidy regimens. Resulting changes in demand, expenditure, nutrition, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality were estimate...

The real cost of food: can taxes and subsidies improve public health?

Suboptimal diet quality is among the leading factors associated with death and disability in the United States 1 and globally. 2 Strategies to address suboptimal diet focus on nutrition education through dietary guidelines and food package labeling. However, this approach places responsibility for healthier diets on an individual's ability to make informed choices rather than addressing the com...

Fat Taxes and Thin Subsidies: Prices, Diet, and Health Outcomes

“Fat taxes” have been proposed as a way of addressing food-related health concerns. In this paper, we investigate the possible effects of “thin subsidies,” consumption subsidies for healthier foods. Empirical simulations, based on data from the Continuing Study of Food Intake by Individuals, are used to calculate the potential health benefits of subsidies on certain classes of fruits and vegeta...

Food Taxes: How Likely Are Likely Effects?