Law Cherry, Brown Kerry Ann, Green Rosemary, Venkateshmurthy Nikhil Srinivasapura, Mohan Sailesh, Scheelbeek Pauline F D, Shankar Bhavani, Dangour Alan D, Cornelsen Laura
Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, WC1H 9SH, London, UK.
(Honorary) College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK.
SSM Popul Health. 2021 Apr 20;14:100794. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100794. eCollection 2021 Jun.
Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) are increasingly being implemented as public health interventions to limit the consumption of sugar and reduce associated health risks. In July 2017, India imposed a new tax rate on aerated (carbonated) drinks as part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform. This study investigates the post-GST changes in the purchase of aerated drinks in urban India.
An interrupted time series analysis was conducted on state-level monthly take-home purchases of aerated drinks in urban India from January 2013 to June 2018. We assessed changes in the year-on-year growth rate (i.e. percentage change) in aerated drink purchases with controls for contextual variables.
We found no evidence of a reduction in state-level monthly take-home aerated drink purchases in urban India following the implementation of GST. Further analysis showed that the year-on-year growth rate in aerated drink purchases increased slightly (0.1 percentage point per month, 95%CI = 0.018, 0.181) after the implementation of GST; however, this trend was temporary and decreased over time (0.008 percentage point per month, 95%CI = -0.015, -0.001).
In India, a country currently with low aerated drink consumption, the implementation of GST was not associated with a reduction in aerated drink purchase in urban settings. Due to the lack of accurate and sufficiently detailed price data, it is not possible to say whether this finding is driven by prices not changing sufficiently. Furthermore, the impact of GST reform on industry practice (reformulation, marketing) and individual behaviour choices (substitution) is unknown and warrants further investigation to understand how such taxes could be implemented to deliver public health benefits.
对含糖饮料征税日益被用作一种公共卫生干预措施，以限制糖的消费并降低相关健康风险。2017年7月，印度对充气（碳酸）饮料征收了新税率，作为商品及服务税（GST）改革的一部分。本研究调查了商品及服务税实施后印度城市地区充气饮料购买情况的变化。
对2013年1月至2018年6月印度城市地区各州每月带回家的充气饮料购买量进行中断时间序列分析。我们评估了充气饮料购买量同比增长率（即百分比变化）的变化，并对背景变量进行了控制。
我们发现没有证据表明商品及服务税实施后印度城市地区各州每月带回家的充气饮料购买量有所减少。进一步分析表明，商品及服务税实施后，充气饮料购买量的同比增长率略有上升（每月0.1个百分点，95%置信区间=0.018，0.181）；然而，这一趋势是暂时的，且随着时间推移而下降（每月0.008个百分点，95%置信区间=-0.015，-0.001）。
在目前充气饮料消费量较低的印度，商品及服务税的实施与城市地区充气饮料购买量的减少无关。由于缺乏准确且足够详细的价格数据，无法确定这一发现是否是由价格变化不足所驱动。此外，商品及服务税改革对行业实践（重新配方、营销）和个人行为选择（替代）的影响尚不清楚，需要进一步调查以了解如何实施此类税收才能带来公共卫生效益。
