Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T08:58:15.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fat Taxes in the EU Between Fiscal Austerity and the Fight Against Obesity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alberto Alemanno  and
Ignacio Carreño
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

To discourage unhealthy eating and limit the population's intake of fatty foods, thereby alleviating the current obesity “epidemic”, an increasing number of countries across the industrialised world are considering levying taxes on unhealthy food. A “fat tax” may be defined as a tax or surcharge placed upon fattening foods, beverages or individuals with the aim to decrease consumption of foods that are linked to obesity. This is not an entirely new idea – some theorists, starting with Arthur Pigou, a 20th century English economist, have long presented the arguments for imposing special taxes on goods and services whose prices do not reflect the true social cost of their consumption. Examples of Pigouvian taxes are duties on cigarettes, alcohol, gambling and environmental emissions. Support for another such tax, a fat tax, is now spreading across the European Union. On 1 October 2011, Denmark introduced a tax on foods by targeting those products that are high in saturated fat. The Danish Act (hereinafter, Act) confirms the trend in various EU Member States to tax certain foods or consider taxing them in the future.

Type
Reports
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 571 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See, e.g., OECD, Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit not Fat (2010).

2 See, e.g., Hanna Rosin, “The Fat Tax: Is It Really Such a Crazy Idea?”, The New Republic, May 18, 1998.

3 A.C. Pigou, “II, Chapter IX: Divergences Between Marginal Social Net Product and Marginal Private Net Product”, in The Economics of Welfare (1932).

4 Fedtafgiftsloven, full title: Lov om afgift af mættet fedt i visse fødevarer (Act on a tax on saturated fat in specific food), LOV nr 247 af 30/03/2011 Gældende (Fedtafgiftsloven), published on 31 March 2011, available on the Internet at <https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=136314#Not1> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

5 For an analysis of the Danish fat tax, see Trade Perspectives, Issue nr 18 of 7 October 2011, available on the Internet at <http://www.fratinivergano.eu/TradePerspectives.html> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

6 2011 évi CIII, Törvény a népegészségügyi termékadóról, Date of publication: 19 July 2011, Magyarközlöny (Hungarian Gazette) 2011, évi 85. Szám, p. 25125.

7 “France to impose fat tax on sugary drinks such as Coca-Cola and Fanta”, The Daily Mail, 6 October 2011, available on the Internet at <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045980/France-impose-fat-tax-sugary-drinks-Coca-Cola-Fanta.html#ixzz1axX0NcsP> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

8 The Irish Times, 22 September 2011; Food Navigator, 29 September 2011, available on the Internet at <http://www.foodnavigator.com/content/view/print/564786> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

9 “UK could introduce ‘fat tax’, says David Cameron”, The Guardian, 4 October 2011, available on the Internet at <http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/04/uk-obesity-tax-david-cameron> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

10 See, e.g., Brownell, Kelly, Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America's Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It (McGraw-Hill: 2004)Google Scholar.

11 World Health Organization, Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (Geneva: WHO, 2004)Google Scholar; World Health Organization, 2008–2013 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (Geneva: WHO, 2008)Google Scholar.

12 See, e.g., World Bank, Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development: A Strategy for Large-Scale Action (Washington: The World Bank, 2006).

13 See, e.g., Thow, A.M., Jan, S., Leeder, S. and Swinburn, B., “The impact of fiscal policy interventions for diets, obesity and chronic disease: a systematic review”, 88 Bulletin of the World Health Organization (2010), pp. 609–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 For an explanation of why junk food is cheaper than healthier alternatives, see Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma (2009).

15 Vartanian, L.R., Schwartz, M.B., Brownell, K.D., “Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis”, 97 American Journal of Public Health (2007), pp. 667–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Dana Goldman, Darius Lakdawalla and Yuhui Zheng, “Food prices and the dynamics of body weight”, NBER Working Paper No 15096 (June 2009); Gideon Yaniv, Odelia Rosin and Yossef Tobol, “Junk-food, home cooking, physical activity and obesity: The effect of the fat tax and the thin subsidy”, Journal of Public Economics (June 2009).

17 See, e.g., Caraher, M., Cowburn, G., “Taxing food: implications for public health nutrition”, 8 Public Health Nutrition (2005), pp. 1242–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Smed, S., Jensen, J.D., Denver, S., “Socio-economic characteristics and the effect of taxation as a health policy instrument”, 32 Food Policy (2007), pp. 624–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Remler, D.K., “Poor smokers, poor quitters, and cigarette tax regressivity”, 94 American Journal of Public Health (2004), pp. 225–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 D.K. Remler, “Poor smokers, poor quitters, and cigarette tax”, supra note 18, pp. 225–9.

20 “Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions”, New York Times, June 13, 2008 available on the Internet at <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/asia/13fat.html> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

21 For an analysis of the genesis and rationale of the Danish fat tax, see, e.g., Wencke Gwozdz, Showcase: On the Way to a Fat Tax in Denmark (Corpus, 2010).

22 “Le Danemark lance la première taxe sur le gras”, Le Figaro, 1 October 2011, available on the Internet at <http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2011/10/01/04016-20111001ARTFIG00422-le-danemark-lance-la-premiere-taxe-sur-le-gras.php> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).

23 Directive 98/34/EC establishes a procedure which imposes an obligation upon EU Member States to notify the Commission and each other of all draft technical regulations concerning products before they are adopted in national law.

24 Communication from the Commission – SG(2011) D/5138 (Notification: 2011/0019/DK of 20 January 2011) and Communication from the Commission – SG(2011) D/51616 (Notification: 2011/0340/HU of 8 July 2011).

25 See, e.g., Craig, The Treaty of Lisbon – Law, Politics and Treaty Reform (OUP, 2010), p. 325; Piris, , The Treaty of Lisbon – A Legal and Political Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 320–321 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Article 9 TFEU.

27 Directive 2001/37 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2001 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, O.J. 2001, L 194/26.

28 Article 113 TFEU.

29 In Europe, the prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2) in men ranges from 4.0% to 28.3% and in women from 6.2% to 36.5%. Considerable geographic variation has been observed with prevalence rates in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe being higher than those in Western and Northern Europe. See A. Berghöfer, T. Pischon, T. Reinhold, C.M. Apovian, A.M. Sharma, S.N. Willich, “Obesity prevalence from a European perspective: a systematic review”, BMC Public Health (2008), 8:200.

30 Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, 16 September 2011, para. 43.

31 Ibid., para. 43, let. (g).

32 See Kirkland, Anna, Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood (New York: New York University Press, 2008), p. 3 Google Scholar; see also, e.g., Olivier, Eric, Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)Google Scholar and Campos, Paul, The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession with Weight is Hazardous to your Health (New York: Gotham Books, 2004)Google Scholar.