It's been nearly a year since citizens of the California city of Berkeley approved a soda tax in an attempt to bring down the consumption of sugary drinks, and at the time many of those opposing the new tax said that it was unlikely that the move would achieve the desired effect, bringing retail prices up - but they were mistaken.
A new study from the University of Berkeley has shown that the soda tax put into motion on January 1, 2015, has certainly risen prices of sugary beverages over the past months, when being compared to the same drinks in nearby cities.
According to UC Berkeley News, findings of the new study on the city's soda tax were published last Wednesday on the American Journal of Public Health, after researchers in the prestigious university found that soft drinks prices had increased by seven-tenths of a cent more per once than it had in the nearby cities of Oakland and San Francisco.
Although New York City has made numerous moves to create a soda tax or some sort of regulation on sugary drinks, last year Berkeley became the first city in the country to approve an excise tax on the matter, which is a type of tariff taken before purchase directly to distributors, so it was unclear what would be retailers' reaction later on.
"No one knew how retailers would deal with the added costs of the tax," said lead study author Jennifer Falbe, according to Eureka Alert. "Increasing the price of sugary drinks is a critical first step in discouraging consumption, so it's incredibly encouraging that we're seeing pass-through of the tax to higher retail prices so early after implementation. We expect higher price increases in the future as small business owners learn more about the tax."
As Daily Cal reports, researchers took the first round of data for the study before the soda tax was even voted for; the second round came in June, three months after the first collection of the tax.
It seems like, nearly a year after Berkeley's soda tax was approved, it may be throwing its first positive results.
