MRC Report: Fat chance

Why sugar taxes won’t work

Published: January 2018

A report by the Menzies Research Centre with assistance from Cadence Economics

Does a case exist for a “sugar tax”? The Greens, the Australian Medical Association and various other public health enthusiasts from around the world say it does. The MRC commissioned the economists at Cadence to investigate the veracity of the research behind this proposal. Five papers from Australia and one from Mexico, all published in the past two years, were analysed. Their findings were underwhelming, to say the least. There is little or no evidence that this tax has any effect on either or consumption or public health.