Sugar Tax Persuasive Essay

Did you know that 60% of adults and one in four children in Australia are overweight or obese, making us one of the most overweight developed nations? Almost half of our population comsumes a sugary drink each day. I believe that it is about time we do something about this. With sugary drinks and weight related health problems closely linked, leading experts from the cancer Council, diabities Australia and the Heart foundation say the sugar tax would be a great solution.

A sugar tax or soft drink tax is a tax or surcharge on soft drink specific to the reduction of overall sugar consumption. In most forms the tax is designed to discourage the drinking of soft drinks, cordials, flavoured mineral waters and sports and energy drinks, with high levels of added sugar.

The first reason I strongly believe that the sugar tax should be introduced is to address the quickly growing rate of obesity in Australia.

Although if we had a tax on sugar we would be able to afford better education about exercise and balanced diets.

Other people also say that tax on soft drinks would do little to reduce obesity and will only hit Australian families where it hurts most – their pockets. I think if the sugar tax was introduced it would encourage people to drink more water from the tap and so they would save money by not drinking soft drinks.

I support the sugar tax to help the countries escalating soft drink crisis. The university of Queensland public health school study showed that if a 20% sugar tax was introduced over 25 years there would be 4400 fewer cases of heart disease, 1100 fewer strokes, 1000 less cancer cases, it would raise $250 million a year, the reduction on annual health spend would be $29 million and it would help stop escalating weight gain. Would you still buy as much soft drink if the price was raised by 50