Call for Federal budget to include a sugary drinks tax to tackle obesity and diabetes

In a move backed by the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Dental Association, public policy think tank the Grattan Institute has called for the Federal budget to include a tax on sugary drinks to reduce obesity and diabetes,

In a newly released report, Sickly Sweet, the Melbourne-based institute states that - with obesity having tripled in Australia since 1980 and diabetes having nearly tripled since 2000 - the Federal Government should introduce a sugary drinks tax.

The Grattan Institute report notes that diabetes contributes to one in 10 Australian deaths, leaves thousands with sickness and disability, and costs government budgets billions of dollars a year.

It advises “one of the main reasons Australia has such high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes is that we consume far too much sugar.

“Sugary drinks are the biggest single source of sugar in our diets, and they increase people’s risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“Popular drinks such as Solo and Coke have as much as 10 teaspoons of sugar in just one 375ml can.

“That’s almost the entire maximum recommended daily intake of sugar for an adult. And more children than adults drink sugary drinks.”

Sickly Sweet advises that there are sugary drink taxes in more than 100 countries, including the UK, France, Portugal and Mexico.

The taxes work
Explaining that the taxes “slash sales and get manufacturers to put less sugar in their drinks”, Sickly Sweet advises that in the UK, one in three products had more than 8 grams of sugar per 100ml before a sugary drinks tax was announced. Four years later, only one in 12 had that much sugar.

It adds “sugary drink taxes will take time to make people healthier, but there are already promising signs. Studies have found reduced obesity among girls, less dental decay, and fewer children having to go to hospital to get teeth removed.”

The report calls for Australia to introduce a tiered tax that targets the drinks that have the most sugar, with a top rate of 60c per litre, and no tax on low-sugar drinks.

Grattan Institute modelling shows that our proposed tax would reduce consumption of the drinks with the most sugar by about 275 million litres a year, or the volume of 110 Olympic swimming pools.

With a sugary drinks tax, the average Australian would drink nearly three quarters of a kilogram less sugar each year.

While such a tax would be about health, it would also still give the Federal Government an extra $500 million in the first year.

Sickly Sweet also notes “manufacturers could avoid the tax by cutting the amount of sugar they put in their drinks, and consumers could avoid the tax by switching to low- or no-sugar drinks.

“Disadvantaged Australians would be the biggest winners because they are hardest hit by diabetes and obesity.

“Experience around the world demonstrates that the financial impact on households, industry, and sugar farmers would be small.”

AMA and ADA welcome sugar tax call
The Australian Medical Association (AMA), which in March called for a ban on junk food advertising, has backed the Grattan Institute’s call for a tax on sugary drinks.

AMA President, Professor Steve Robson stated “sugary drinks make us sick, and we know this is a huge health problem for Australia.

“Sugar hides in a lot of drinks and we don't realise the huge quantities we are actually consuming - it’s not always immediately apparent.

“And as was exposed recently, while manufacturers bombard consumers with messaging suggesting they are reducing sugar content, they are in fact increasing sugar content in some drinks.”

Similarly, the Australian Dental Association (ADA) has also welcomed the Sickly Sweet report, which it says, reiterates its own call for the introduction of a levy on sugary drinks.

ADA President, Dr Scott Davis commented “Australia must implement a tax on sugary drinks to not only curb the country’s obesity crisis but importantly to slow down the rate of tooth decay."

Dr Davis, a NSW prosthodontist, added "as we know from numerous research studies and as made clear by this Grattan report, sugary drink taxes have led to improvements in oral health in several countries around the globe which have already instituted a levy on sugary drinks.”

The Grattan Institute is a non-aligned public policy think tank, defining itself as contributing "to public policy in Australia as a liberal democracy in a globalised economy."

Image credit: The Grattan Institute.