Some people say that a special tax should be put on food and drinks with high levels of added sugar. Others disagree. Diacuss both views and give your own opinion

The effectiveness of

tax

on food and beverages with high sugar content is debatable. Some people believe that imposing a special

tax

can discourage unhealthy habits.

This

essay will discuss both sides of the argument and provide reasons in favour of no

tax

on sugary drinks.

To begin

with, the consumption of unhealthy foods has increased in the

last

couple of years especially amongst younger children and the working population in their 20s. The most commonly purchased items in these age groups are sodas, energy drinks and chocolates. Adding a hefty

tax

to these items can encourage people to reduce their consumption of junk foods.

However

,

this

market is very sticky i.e. the consumers' behaviour is habitual in nature and

thus

very difficult to change.

Such

behaviour is

also

prevalent in cigarette smokers. For eg: In 2012,

although

UAE imposed a 20% excise on packs of cigarettes, the number of packs sold did not decrease significantly. In fact, middle-class consumers switched to low-cost packs with more harmful content compositions. A similar trend was witnessed with the Energy Drink

Tax

in Singapore. For

this

reason, an additional

tax

may not be effective and

on the

contrary

Add a comma

,contrary

show examples

could be harmful. To conclude, I think an excise

tax

should not be the motivator to infuse healthy habits among the population. Education can play a very important role in creating awareness about ingredients and nutritional value.