Learning from the Mexican Experience with Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Energy-Dense Foods of Low Nutritional Value

Abstract

Knowledge Brief  Faced with a large and increasing obesity epidemic, in 2013 Mexico enacted taxes on sugarsweetened beverages (SSBs) and calorie-dense foods of low nutritional value.  The decision to implement this fiscal policy was the result of a long advocacy process in which civil society organizations and government agencies participated.  The taxes were designed to avoid, as much as possible, the substitution of consumption of the taxed goods for other unhealthy foods and beverages not subject to taxation.  The taxes have been successful in increasing both the fiscal revenues and the price of the products taxed. There is evidence that they have reduced consumption, particularly of SSBs.  A debate remains on the size of the impact of the taxes, particularly on health outcomes. Thus it is important to continue monitoring the impact of the taxes through the development of price and volume indicators, based on publicly available data, as well as health outcomes indicators.

The Political Economy of Food

“…The path towards governmental action began through an accumulation of evidence concerning the role of sugar consumption in the rise of obesity in the past decades, moving the issue from area 5 in our framework (issues not yet identified) to area 4 (issue of public health concern). Eight years prior to creating the tax, the Mexican National Confronted with this realisation, between 2007 and 2009, the Ministry of Health began to stimulate knowledge generation on possible policy actions to reverse this trend, sparking dialogue among different government branches and other public health institutions, including the INSP (Bonilla-Chacín et al 2016). An early focus was set on recommendations for healthy hydration (Barquera et al 2013).…”

“…An early focus was set on recommendations for healthy hydration (Barquera et al 2013). This process of awareness-raising and consensus-building around the need for government intervention culminated in the 2010 National Agreement for Nutritional Health (ANSA), which included a Strategy against Overweight and Obesity with 117 proposed activities and 249 actions (Bonilla-Chacín et al 2016). However, few of the proposals translated into concrete programmes; pressure by the food industry, insufficient government resources for implementation, and a general lack of accountability have been blamed for relative lack of action at that stage (Barquera et al 2013).…”

“…Only days after Peña Nieto took office, Torres Peimbert presented a comprehensive proposal drafted by academic and civil society organisations that called for a 20 per cent excise tax on SSBs. Though excluded from the 2013 budget proposal, and despite furious industry opposition, the idea of an SSB tax received increased traction both in the National Development Plan and during civil society fora and events in 2013, and a one-peso-per-litre tax (representing a 10 per cent price increase) was finally included in the Law on the Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS) in October 2013, along with an 8 per cent ad valorem tax increase on high-calorie foods (Bonilla-Chacín et al 2016), moving the issue to area 1 of the framework (public health concerns positively addressed in policy, in explicit conflict with food industry interests).…”

“…Institute of Public Health (INSP) published the 2006 National Survey on Health and Nutrition (ENSANUT), which revealed that the prevalence of obesity had drastically increased and become one of Mexico's leading health burdens(Bonilla-Chacín et al 2016). According to the survey results from 2012, 34.4 per cent of school-age children, 73 per cent of adult women, and 69.4 per cent of adult men in Mexico were either overweight or obese(Barquera, Campos and Rivera 2013).…”

Obesity: Health and Economic Consequences of an Impending Global Challenge

“…Secretariat launched a National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Overweight, Obesity, and Diabetes signed by the president and all cabinet secretaries (Bonilla-Chacín et al 2016). Brazil used a wide-ranging consultative process to establish several initiatives, the most far-reaching being the school feeding initiative to enhance fresh food use in school meals (Coitinho, Monteiro, and Popkin 2002).…”