Tax on junk food but not on colas!

Kerala Finance Minister imposed tax on junk food but avoided colas. This was amusing as colas are found to be worse than pizzas, burgers or other junk foods.

These taxes are not new at all. Known as soda tax or sugar tax, Mexico was one of the first to implement this at a large scale. Mexico is where we have the largest per capita consumption of colas - nearly half a litre a day. In the backdrop of Mr. Alejandro Calvillo's fight against cola giants, Mexico imposed taxes on colas/sodas. Countries like Unite Kingdom replicated this citing that such measures will reduce consumption of unhealthy foods. Kerala is the latest in this list, but made a half-hearted attempt, avoiding colas/sodas. For people who chased-off Coca Cola from Plachimada, this was surprising.

I would say our most popular street food "kappa & erachi" & "porotta" are junk foods. Or the "parippu vada". Try imposing tax on them! Instead we chose to impose tax on some food culture alien to Kerala.

But it is worth evaluating whether such measures yield intended results. Not certainly. Latest figures from Mexico tells us that after a decline, cola sales are increasing again there.

Junk food tax is only another restrictive economic policy which curtails personal choices for petty gains of political goodwill. People smoking in India is on decline not because of taxes but because of knowledge of ill-effects and societal values against it.