Nick Coatsworth has criticised a proposed tax on sweets, arguing that “$8 cans of Coke” will only punish the poor and not solve the country’s obesity crisis.
A recent Senate report recommended a 20 percent tax on unhealthy products, such as soft drinks, to curb rising obesity rates, particularly among children.
But the prominent doctor, who became the face of Australia’s Covid vaccination drive as deputy national chief medical officer, argues that implementing a so-called “sin tax” is a mistake and echoes the draconian government overreach seen during the pandemic.
“It’s hard to escape the conclusion that sin taxes are proposed by rich people who look down on the behaviour of the sinful masses,” Dr Coatsworth told the Daily Mail Australia.
Can you imagine a can of Coca-Cola costing $8? Is that what it will take to reduce consumption?
‘In regional and indigenous communities I predict it will reduce consumption to exactly zero.’
She noted that while governments can legitimately regulate issues such as the age of consumption of products like alcohol and penalize those who sell harmful products to children, they must be cautious when applying such restrictions to adults.
“The recent trend is to make sanctioning and prohibition the first option rather than the last resort, and this is leading to poor policy decisions,” Dr Coatsworth said.
Nick Coatsworth has criticised a proposed tax on sweets, arguing that “$8 cans of Coke” will only punish the poor and not solve the country’s obesity crisis.
A recent Senate parliamentary report recommended imposing a “sugar tax” on sugary drinks
‘If you’re struggling to make an income and support your family, you have much less ability to make good health choices, and ‘sins’ help you get through a tough day.
‘A sin tax that does nothing to help people be in a position to make positive health choices.’
Dr Coatsworth also warned that there are limits to trying to legislate people to be healthier.
“We have just gone through a very disturbing episode in our lives where we have criminalized or severely penalized legitimate actions by citizens in the name of public health,” he said, referring to the Covid period.
‘As a basic principle, public health should operate with community consent, not coercion.
“This applies both to the current debates and to Covid.”
The Australian government already levies similar taxes on tobacco products, increasing the excise duty every year to make it prohibitively expensive. It currently stands at around 75 percent of the retail price.
Although the smoking rate has declined from more than 20 percent in 2001 to 11 percent today, illegal vaping rates have skyrocketed along with the illicit tobacco trade.
“It’s a law of diminishing returns,” Dr. Coatsworth said.
‘The excise tax on tobacco had risen so much that a black market has flourished.
‘It is clear that the Australian Federal Police are unable to stop illicit tobacco from entering the country, let alone illegal vapes, and that is creating a problem for state police, who now have to deal with the rise of organised crime.
“It’s strange that the same people who acknowledge that a ‘war on drugs’ is the wrong way to address hard drug use passionately declare that a ‘war on e-cigarettes’ would probably work.”
Despite Dr. Coatsworth’s opposition to raising taxes on unhealthy foods and drinks, he agrees that there are a ‘Australia’s obesity and diabetes crisis is placing a huge economic burden on our healthcare system.
Although the smoking rate has declined from more than 20 percent in 2001 to 11 percent today, illegal vaping rates have skyrocketed along with the illicit tobacco trade (file image)
“There’s a big gap between agreeing with that and saying sugar taxes will have a significant impact on either of them,” he said.
‘The classic activist behavior is to go into a moral panic and then criticize an opponent for being an enemy of the public good.
“Labeling someone as an enemy of public health is a very effective way to silence debate.”
Earlier this month, a Senate report recommended that the federal government… The government will introduce a tax on sugary drinks and will look to international examples to set prices.
He pointed to the British example of the “graduated tax,” where the levy increases with the amount of sugar in a product.
The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated that a 20 per cent tax on all sugary drinks would generate around $1.4 billion annually.
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