Higher Retail Prices of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages 3 Months After Implementation of an Excise Tax in Berkeley, California.

BEVERAGE sales & prices; PRICE increases; EXCISE tax; TAXATION of sugar; BEVERAGE tax laws; GOVERNMENT policy; TAXATION; CONFIDENCE intervals; BEVERAGE laws; HEALTH promotion; BEVERAGES; MEDICAL cooperation; RESEARCH; RESEARCH funding; PRE-tests & post-tests; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; DIETARY sucrose; ECONOMICS

CALIFORNIA; BERKELEY (Calif.); OAKLAND (Calif.); SAN Francisco (Calif.)

Objectives. We assessed the short-term ability to increase retail prices of the first US 1-cent-per-ounce excise tax on the distribution of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which was implemented in March 2015 by Berkeley, California. Methods. In 2014 and 2015, we examined pre- to posttax price changes of SSBs and non-SSBs in a variety of retailers in Berkeley and in the comparison cities Oakland and San Francisco, California. We examined price changes by beverage, brand, size, and retailer type. Results. For smaller beverages (≤ 33.8 oz), price increases (cents/oz) in Berkeley relative to those in comparison cities were 0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.36, 1.03) for soda, 0.47 (95% CI = 0.08, 0.87) for fruit-flavored beverages, and 0.47 (95% CI = 0.25, 0.69) for SSBs overall. For 2-liter bottles and multipacks of soda, relative price increases were 0.46 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.89) and 0.49 (95% CI = 0.21, 0.77). We observed no relative price increases for nontaxed beverages overall. Conclusions. Approximately 3 months after the tax was implemented, SSB retail prices increased more in Berkeley than in nearby cities, marking a step in the causal pathway between the tax and reduced SSB consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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