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Researchers say Philadelphia's beverage tax cut taxed-beverage purchases and shows early health improvements
Summary
Researchers who studied Philadelphia's 2017 beverage tax told the committee they observed sharp drops in taxed beverage sales and traceable improvements in child dental outcomes and small declines in obesity for low-income populations; they urged council to weigh systematic evidence alongside industry claims about jobs.
PHILADELPHIA ' Academic witnesses told the Council committee that empirical analyses of the city's sweetened beverage tax show substantial reductions in taxed-product purchases and measurable, if modest, health benefits.
Christina Roberto, a health-policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania, summarized multiple studies and her team's analyses, saying retail-transaction data indicate a roughly 35% decline in the sale of taxed beverages that persisted in the two years her…
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