Support Senate Bill 396!!!

How many people do you know that would eat 10 Krispy Kreme
doughnuts in a day or let their child eat 17 packets of sugar in one go?

Not many?

Unfortunately, its probably a lot easier to think of people you know

who consume sugar-sweetened beverages regularly.

This is equivalent to binging on doughnuts or letting children

eat several sugar packets.

Just one 20 oz. bottle of soda has about 17 packets of sugar in it. These
beverages have been proven to increase the odds of childhood obesity
by 60% for each can consumed daily. In fact, these sugar-sweetened
beverages can account for one fifth of the increase in weight in the US
in the past thirty years.

So, how is it that the average American STILL drinks about 477
cans of soda per year?

In Illinois, soda is cheaper to buy than healthy alternatives such as low-

fat milk*.

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s
Carbonated soft drinks are also much more available than milk and
fruit juices.
 Support Senate Bill 396!!!
OK, but dont we already tax sugar-sweetened beverages? What else
can we do?

Illinois does impose a sales tax on these beverages. However, the type
of tax is not the one that scholars say will be the most effective in
discouraging consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Senate Bill
396 will change this by implementing an excise tax of $0.01 on every
ounce of sugar-sweetened beverage, beverage syrup, or beverage
powder sold in Illinois. The money from the tax would be used
exclusively for health promotion programs.

*Prices are normalized to easily show price difference.

Whats the difference?

Pretend that you are thirsty and go to the store to get a drink.
You decide to buy a bottle of soda. This is what your receipt would look
like:

Now
The price tag on the bottle says
$1.00.

Senate Bill 396

The price tag on the bottle says
$1.20.

Currently, we have a sales tax of

6.25% on sugar-sweetened
beverages.

- The customer does not

see this tax when
deciding to buy the drink!
- When the customer does
see the tax, they have
already decided to buy
the drink.
- Research has concluded
that this type of tax will
not do much to decrease
consumption.
SB396 proposes a tax of $0.01
per ounce of sugar-sweetened
beverage.
- The customer can see
this tax when deciding to
buy the drink- since the
tax causes the store to
raise the price of the
drink.
 Support Senate Bill 396!!!
- A higher price can approach- estimating a
discourage them from 23.5% decrease in sugar-
purchasing the unhealthy sweetened beverage
beverage. consumption.
- Researchers have
recommended this
 Where would the money go?
The money from the taxes, an estimated $606.7 million, would
establish an Illinois Health Promotion Fund, to be used for:
o Improving public health infrastructure of Illinois
Department of Public Health (20%)
o Community-based childhood obesity prevention programs
that improve access to healthier food, encourage physical
activity, and educate children about healthy behaviors
(30%)
o Finance health programs in elementary and secondary
schools (30%)
o Chronic disease prevention and treatment programs (10%)
o Oral health treatment and services for the underserved
(10%)
How much can this tax change things?
Researchers have studied the potential impact of this policy. Here are
some of their estimates:

Thats speculation. Is there any evidence that this kind of thing has
worked before?

YES! It worked for tobacco. Increasing taxes on cigarettes have

dramatically decreased tobacco use, while also generating revenue for
prevention and smoking cessation programs.
 Doesnt this tax unfairly affect low-income populations?
No. The health problems of diabetes and obesity unfairly affect low-
income populations. This tax hopes to reduce this problem, and also
generate revenue for programs, such as subsidies for healthy food and
beverage alternatives, to specifically help this population.

Is there any other reason not to support SB396?

NO! We tax these beverages anyways- why not do it in a way that
makes sense? This tax is more transparent, effective, and saves the
state millions of dollars in health care costs. It just makes sense- so
support SB396!!

Bittman, Mark. "Bad Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables." New York Times. July 23,
2011.

Chaloupka, F.J., Wang, Y.C., Powell, L.M., Andreyeva, T., Chriqui, J.F., Rimkus, L.M.
(2011). Estimating the potential impact of sugar-sweetened and other beverage
excise taxes in Illinois. Chicago: Cook County Department of Public Health

D. Ludwig, K. Peterson, S. Gortmaker. Relation between consumption of sugar-

sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: A prospective, observational analysis.
Lancet, 357 (2001), pp. 505508

Food and consumption (per capita) data system. USDA Economic Research Services.
Available at http://www.ers.usda.gov.

Scaperotti, Jessica. "New Campaign Asks New Yorkers if Theyre Pouring on the
Pounds". New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. August 31, 2009.
Web. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2009/pr057-09.shtml

Todd, Jessica E., Ephraim Leibtag, and Corttney Penberthy. Geographic Differences in
the Relative Price of Healthy Foods, EIB-78, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic
Research Service, June 2011