Sweet carbonated drinks are subsequent to a 7 percent tax starting July 1st, following the 2020 BC Budget announcement earlier this week.

By Veronica Beltran

taxing sweet drinks

Will a soda tax stop you from reaching for the sugary drink?

Feb 21, 2020 | 3:02 PM

PRINCE GEORGE– As of July 1 you may be paying a bit more when it comes to carbonated sweet drinks, this announced in the 2020 provincial budget earlier this week.

In the announcement, the province said that PST will be added to sweetened carbonated beverages, adding a 7 percent price increase to the drinks in an attempt to encourage healthier choices amongst British Columbians.

The largest consumers of pop are teenagers, those between the ages of 14-18 with the consumption of pop decreasing with age, according to research.

Chief Population Health Dietitian with Northern Health says that there is a link between added sugars in pop and things such as diabetes and dental caries. Studies show that added sugars can also lead to obesity and a higher risk of heart disease.

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Sheppard says that according to the World Health Organization says that “on average adults should have up to but not to exceed 10 percent of their calories from added sugars.”

Although Northern Health couldn’t comment on the idea to tax beverages, Sheppard mentioned other measures she thinks can be taken to help create a healthier lifestyle, “policies that increase access to healthy foods and portable water in our communities…it would be having implement a policy in our public buildings, our schools…our REC centres that would support us being able to make the healthy choice the easy choice.”

The push for the tax comes in the attempt to create a healthier BC in order to help decrease health care costs for the province.