各國開徵糖稅 Sugar Tax
各國紛紛討論開徵糖稅 Sugar Tax（也有開徵肥胖稅後又決定取消的國家丹麥），名廚 Jamie Oliver 接受訪問，說明他對糖稅的想法，會引起話題不是因為他是名廚，而是在英國打算在 2018 年開徵糖稅前，今年 2017 年為了支持政策，提前在他的餐廳施行，如果你要在咖啡或飲料加更多的糖，需要另外付費買糖。另外，墨西哥早在 2014 年就徵收糖稅，每年消費者購買含糖飲料下降了6％。澳洲墨爾本大學公共健康研究團隊提出，在澳洲徵收垃圾食物稅可以減少健保支出 30 億澳元，且不會影響家庭支出。
非常有趣的議題，要看開徵糖稅背後的邏輯是什麼？
在討論此議題時，會認為糖跟鹽、抽煙等是個人選擇。各國徵收糖稅的具體數據，在衛報有正反報導 Will a sugar tax actually work?
不論研究數據如何，過多的糖份攝取對健康都是有影響的，每個人天天都要注意攝取量，WHO 報告 DIET, NUTRITION AND THE PREVENTION OF CHRONIC DISEASES 有興趣可以詳讀內容。
I saw a video by a famous chef Jamie Oliver on a news channel. It’s talking about the sugar tax in the U.K. last year. I’m interested in this sugar tax article, and I started to found some sugar information.
In Australia, a research team from the University of Melbourne. They are studying about Taxes and Subsidies for Improving Diet and Population Health in Australia. According to the report, it would save Australia $3.4bn in healthcare costs without affecting household food budgets.
Conversely, sugar tax would cost more for sweet products. Food doesn’t taste as good as usual and it would be more expensive. Parents need to decrease pocket money for their kids.
Now some countries introduce sugar tax. Like Mexico introduced a sugar tax in 2014. The U.K. government will start in the next year. Last month in Australia, some health and community groups had drawn a taxes and subsidies plan to push the government to introduce a sugar tax by 2019.
In my opinion, it’s a good idea for health policy. Maybe we can have sugar tax and a subsidy for fresh fruit and vegetables. It can encourage people to eat healthy way. I think we need both carrots and sticks to change consumer behaviour.
