Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, would have no negative effect on jobs, a new study shows. In fact, there would be a small increase, researchers estimate.
A team led by Lisa Powell, an economist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, analyzed the effect of a 20 percent tax on sugar-swettened beverages. That works out to a little more than a penny-per-ounce. They looked at the impact in two states: Illinois and California.
"Effectively we found that there was pretty much zero change in jobs, zero net effect," Powell told me in an interview.
These findings are counter to what the beverage industry has long held as a jobs-killer. But Powell says this analysis looked beyond just the effects of less sugary-beverage consumption and to the broader economy. Powell says that while some jobs would indeed be lost, those losses would be offset by gains in other areas. In particular, she noted that consumers who reduced consumption of sugary-drinks would likely switch to other drinks, such as 100 percent fruit juice or diet sodas.
"A truck driver may no longer be driving around sugar-sweetened beverages," she said, "but he may be driving other goods."