According to a white paper released by the New Zealand Dental Association, a levy on sugary drinks could save the health system up to NZD 2.2 billion.
The paper proposed a tiered excise tax on sugary drinks, modelled on the UK’s Soft Drinks Industry Levy and scaled by sugar content, with all revenue ring-fenced for funded dental care, community oral health programmes, and school water fountains.
“Tooth decay is the most common preventable disease in this country, and sugary drinks are one of the biggest drivers of it,” said Dr Rob Beaglehole, NZDA Senior Advisor.
“We know what works. The UK brought in a levy in 2018 and saw a real drop in kids ending up in hospital to have teeth pulled out under general anaesthetic. New Zealand is falling behind while thousands of children, some barely out of nappies, are having teeth removed for entirely preventable reasons.”
The paper argued that the levy would also reduce health inequities, given Māori and Pasifika children carry the highest rates of severe tooth decay and stand to gain the most from reduced disease and reinvested funding.
The NZD 2.2 billion figure came from modelling by University of Otago researchers, based on a 20 percent levy, over the lifetime of the current population.
With the general election just months away, NZDA has called on all parties to say where they stand on the levy before New Zealanders vote in November.
Dr Beaglehole said the case came down to who picked up the bill.
“Right now, taxpayers are covering the hospital bills for a problem the sugary drink industry is causing. That’s not fiscally responsible, and in fact, it’s a subsidy for bad products.”
He said this levy is targeted, it’s simple to collect, and every dollar goes straight back into cutting future health costs. By November, every party should be telling voters how they'll stop taxpayers footing this bill.
“This isn’t about telling people what to drink. It’s about making the healthy choice the easy choice, and making the companies profiting from this pay their fair share towards fixing it,” he added.
“Every year we wait is another year of kids in hospital for something we know how to prevent. The Government has the evidence, it has the tool, and it has 116 countries showing it works. It’s time to act.”
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