Abstract

AGUILAR-ESTRADA, Alma Esther et al. Taxing flavored waters (soda): an alternative for financing the fight against diabetes in México. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2011, vol.8, n.3, pp.421-432. ISSN 1870-5472.

Diabetes is the number one cause of death in people of productive age in México, generating high economic and social costs at the micro and macroeconomic levels. In 90% of diabetes cases, they are attributed to obesity, which is directly related to imbalances in the diet and to a sedentary lifestyle. The average expenditure in soda consumption is equivalent to 12 and 7.5% of the basic food basket, rural and urban, respectively. The objective of this study was to propose an alternative for financing diabetes treatment by imposing a tax on soda consumption. The methodology consists in estimating the expenditure in diabetes treatment and soda consumption using information from the ENSANUT 2006 databases, and performing a sensibility analysis with different tax sums, and in view of different scenarios for product price elasticities. Results indicate that the income generated from a tax of two to three pesos per liter, taking into account a price elasticity between -0.5 and 1.0, might cover the total cost generated by diabetes treatment in México, and decrease its consumption in 13% to 19%.

Keywords : consumption; health expenditure; tax collection; sodas.