NPR reported that research suggests taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks “do work – although sometimes not as well as hoped.” In a study published by the American Journal of Public Health, researchers asked people in Berkeley, California questions about sugar-sweetened drink consumption every year since the city’s “soda tax went into effect four years ago,” finding “a 52 percent decline in consumption over the first three years.” Meanwhile, another group of researchers is studying the effect of Philadelphia’s soda tax “by looking at sales data from retail establishments.” The research suggests that sales of sugary drinks “have dropped sharply, by 46 percent, since the tax went into effect,” but there is also “a very large increase in sales of soda and other taxed products at stores that are located zero to four miles outside the city.”
