Shuwen Ng is quoted in a USA Today article about the proposed statewide sugary drink tax in Connecticut, and the article presents an infographic sourced from our maps of sugary drink taxes throughout the world.
Connecticut may become the first state in the country to tax sugar-sweetened beverages if Gov. Ned Lamont has his way.
He’s proposed a 1.5-percent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks, which he expects will generate $163.1 million for the Nutmeg State in fiscal 2021, which begins the preceding July, He says it will also help residents become healthier.
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What makes this first-ever statewide effort significant is it reduces the likelihood of consumers going to neighboring areas to avoid the tax — what experts call leakage. While it’d be easy to go from a taxed city to a nearby suburb, leaving a state is a hassle.
“With a larger geographic scope of the policy, you have less opportunity for people to cross the border to do their beverage shopping,” said Shu Wen Ng, a health economist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “For both health implications and revenue generating, a state level or larger geographical scope would be more meaningful.”
Read the full USA Today article here. View a map of sugary drink taxes around the world here.