The Rattler is a weekly newsletter from J.D. Tuccille. If you care about government overreach and tangible threats to everyday liberty, this is for you.
International Nannies Push “Healthier” Behavior
“WHO calls on countries to increase taxes on alcohol and sugary sweetened beverages,” the World Health Organization headlined a December 5 press release, precisely 90 years after the ratification of the 21st Amendment. “The World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing today new data that show a low global rate of taxes being applied to unhealthy products such as alcohol and sugary sweetened beverages (SSBs). The findings highlight that the majority of countries are not using taxes to incentivize healthier behaviours.”
Admittedly, WHO is a meddlesome world organization, so one can’t expect it to always be aware of important political dates in any one country. Still, the irony is rich enough to make you reach for something sweet and buzz-inducing. Why not double down on control-freakery on a day when Americans with a modicum of historical awareness reflect on the defeat of such efforts?
That said, WHO didn’t call for outright bans on sweet and boozy drinks. The idea is to hike prices through the tax system so that people—presumably those with less money—can’t afford them and therefore become slimmer and more sober.
“Taxes that increase alcohol prices by 50% would help avert over 21 million deaths over 50 years and generate nearly US$17 trillion in additional revenues,” insists WHO.
WHO also points to polling data showing that majorities in multiple countries support sin taxes on alcohol, sugary drinks, and tobacco. Presumably, those surveyed could purchase fewer such products of their own accord but want pressure applied from above on those who might choose differently.
But what people support in the abstract isn’t the same thing as what they actually do when living under real-life policies. Laws and unintended consequences have a funny way of colliding again and again.
Nanny Policies Meet Unintended Consequences
“Substitution to untaxed beverages with no added sugars (e.g., water) is an intended goal of SSB [sugary sweetened beverage] taxes,” noted a 2021 brief from the University of Illinois Chicago’s Policy, Practice and Prevention Research Center. “However, substitution to unhealthful products is a possible unintended consequence. For example, a tax on SSBs may induce substitution to sweets or salty snacks, if an individual is looking to obtain alternative high-sugar or high-calorie foods.”
In fact, research on the results of Seattle’s soda tax found that increased prices drove people to buy more sweet snacks and beer. That means calories consumption just shifted around in terms of their sources, not necessarily reducing what was ultimately consumed.
“There is no evidence from anywhere around the world which shows that these policies lead to a reduction in weight, obesity or even overall calorie intake,” comments Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs in the U.K., which has had a sugar tax for five years.
People can also evade taxes by crossing borders to cheaper jurisdictions, as Norwegians did to purchase lower-taxed sweets in Sweden when their country adopted a sugar tax. Americans have been jumping city and state lines for decades to escape punitive sin taxes on alcohol, as well as shipping and distribution restrictions that limit choices.
What About Freedom of Choice?
Of course, all of this treats high taxes and other efforts “to incentivize healthier behaviours,” as WHO puts it, as just a set of policy choices among many, to be adopted if they work or discarded otherwise.
Prohibition failed because it was actively resisted by drinkers who resented being deprived of their freedom of choice. Taxes on sugar, alcohol, and other sins are similarly fought by people who believe they have the right to make their own decisions, even if public-health nannies disapprove. Freedom has a value of its own, separate from the obesity and mortality figures bureaucrats obsessively peruse.
“Taxing unhealthy products creates healthier populations. It has a positive ripple effect across society—less disease and debilitation and revenue for governments to provide public services,” huffed Dr. Rűdiger Krech, Director of Health Promotion for WHO.
Some of us might say that freedom is what gives life value, and that slimming us down and extending our span on this Earth at the expense of our liberty is a lousy tradeoff.