School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 27;18(9):4607. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094607.
Despite a growing body of evidence showing that sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes nudge consumers away from SSBs, we lack an understanding of people's awareness and perceptions of SSB taxes and whether tax awareness and perceptions differ based on sociodemographic characteristics. We used serial cross-sectional study intercept surveys ( = 2715) in demographically diverse neighborhoods of Berkeley and Oakland in 2015 and 2017, and San Francisco and Richmond in 2017. In the year following successful SSB tax ballot measures, 45% of respondents correctly recalled that an SSB tax had passed in their city. In untaxed cities, 14% of respondents incorrectly thought that a tax had passed. Perceived benefits of SSB taxes to the community and to children's health were moderate and, like correct recall of an SSB tax, were higher among respondents with higher education levels. Awareness of SSB taxes was low overall, and perceptions about taxes' benefits varied by educational attainment, reflecting a missed opportunity to educate citizens about how SSB taxes work and their importance. Public health efforts should invest in campaigns that explain the benefits of SSB taxes and provide information about how tax revenues will be invested, both before and after a tax proposal has passed.
尽管越来越多的证据表明，含糖饮料（SSB）税可以促使消费者减少对 SSB 的消费，但我们并不了解人们对 SSB 税的认识和看法，也不知道税收意识和看法是否因社会人口特征而异。我们在 2015 年和 2017 年在伯克利和奥克兰（加利福尼亚州）以及旧金山和里士满（加利福尼亚州）的人口结构多样化的社区中使用了连续的横断面研究拦截调查（=2715）。在 SSB 税成功通过全民投票的一年后，45%的受访者正确地回忆起他们所在的城市已经通过了 SSB 税。在未征税的城市中，有 14%的受访者错误地认为已经征收了税款。受访者对 SSB 税对社区和儿童健康的好处的看法是中等的，而且与正确回忆 SSB 税一样，在受教育程度较高的受访者中更高。总体而言，对 SSB 税的认识程度较低，而且对税收好处的看法因教育程度而异，这反映出在 SSB 税的运作方式及其重要性方面，向公民进行教育的机会被错失了。公共卫生工作应该投入到宣传 SSB 税的好处的活动中，并提供有关税收如何投资的信息，无论是在税收提案通过之前还是之后。
