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It's a hotly debated topic. Will taxing junk food stop people from buying their favorite treats? I've always doubted that a 25 cent price hike on Twix bars would stop me from throwing them into my shopping cart!  BUT, a new study says I'm WRONG. Sin taxes do work when it comes to food. Psychological scientist Leonard Epstein at University of Buffalo simulated a grocery store in his lab. He "stocked" it with images of everything you'd find at your local supermarket.... from fruit and whole wheat bread to soda and and nachos. A group of volunteer mothers were given laboratory âmoneyâ to shop for a weekâs worth of groceries for their family. Each item came with basic nutritional information.The volunteers went shopping several times in the "store." First they shopped with the regular prices (the same prices that were recorded at a real, nearby market). Then the researchers imposed either taxes or subsidies on the foods. They raised the prices of unhealthy foods by 12.5%, and then by 25%, or they discounted the price of healthy foods by the same amounts. Then they watched what the mothers bought. The results, just published in Psychological Science, show that taxing unhealthy foods reduced overall calories purchased. It also cut the proportion of fat and carbohydrates and increased the proportion of protein in a typical weekâs groceries. By contrast, subsidizing the prices of healthy food actually increased calories purchased without changing the nutritional value at all. Researchers say it appears that mothers took the money they saved on fruits and vegetables and treated the family to less healthy alternatives. Bottom line: taxes shifted food spending from less healthy to healthier choices. Subsidies did not. Related:
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Comments (2)
  written by Sensi, April 28, 2010
I know lots of overweight people. There isn't one of them that would stop buying junk food or even buy less of it if there was even a moderate amount of tax added to it. It wasn't a very scientific study if he just picked a group of "volunteers" without any rhyme or reason. If he had picked different people chances are the results would be different. We're the volunteers overweight? Were they buying the items they would normally buy?
 written by kayla101, April 13, 2010
i never thought i wuld c the day tax would stop me from buying junk food
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