Is the sugar tax to blame for the slushy drinks scare?

The alleged ‘success’ of Mexico’s tax on sugary drinks inspired George Osborne to announce a sugar tax for the UK in 2016. But the news that the tax has led to children being poisoned by drinking frozen slushy ice drinks suggests it – just like Mexico’s – could be doing more harm than good.

Mexico’s levy was said to have reduced demand for sugary drinks in the country – it would have been surprising if it didn’t. But it did not lead to Mexicans consuming fewer calories: rates of obesity have continued to climb since the tax was introduced in 2014. One of the little-known consequences of the Mexican sugar tax is that it led to ‘a significant 6.6 per cent increase in gastrointestinal disease rates in areas lacking safe drinking water’. 

Before the tax was introduced, the government promised to spend the revenue on improving the country’s water supply, but this appears to have been just a shaggy dog story to trick people into supporting the policy.