Adherence
An 8% tax on nonessential energy-dense foods and a peso-per-liter tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico resulted in a statistically significant decline in the volume of purchased taxed foods compared to pre-tax trends, with the largest reductions observed in low socioeconomic status (SES) households.
If you are a policymaker or public health advocate, this evidence supports the implementation of taxes on energy-dense, non-essential foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. The intervention is effective at reducing purchase volumes, particularly among lower-income populations who benefit most from the reduction. However, the tax definition must be carefully crafted to avoid loopholes like product reformulation to fall under the threshold.
Household purchases of nonessential energy-dense foods declined in the first year after the implementation of Mexico’s SSB and nonessential foods taxes... On average, the total volume of taxed purchases had an absolute decline of 25 g per capita per month (p < 0.05), or a -5.1% relative change beyond what would have been expected based on pre-tax trends... low SES households purchased 10.2% less taxed foods than expected... whereas high SES households’ purchases did not change.
Why this rating
Longitudinal fixed-effects model with robust controls, but limited by lack of a control group and proprietary data constraints.
Source
First-Year Evaluation of Mexico’s Tax on Nonessential Energy-Dense Foods: An Observational Study
Carolina Batis et al. · PLoS Medicine · 2016
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →