是否应该征收含糖饮料消费税?——基于消费税职能的探讨

Should There be an Excise Tax on Sugary Drinks? Based on the Discussion of Excise Tax Function

基于我国减税降费背景下消费税理应秉持的职能定位,本文对征收含糖饮料消费税可能产生的影响展开定量分析。结果表明:征收含糖饮料消费税能够为政府的消费税收入带来至少2%的增幅,同时可以降低居民的能量摄入和体重;尽管存在微弱的收入分配负效应,相对于含糖饮料过量摄入引起的健康负外部性导致的经济损失,征税带来的收益比较可观。本文建议将含糖饮料消费税作为引导居民健康饮食消费的一个切入点,通过逐步扩大税目的方式最终形成契合我国国情的不健康食品消费税。

As an important aspect of guiding a rational diet,"reducing sugar"is of great significance to the maintenance of the health of residents and the in-depth implementation of the Healthy China Action.With the continuous rise of obesity rate and the promotion of the specific excise tax legislation in China,this paper,based on the functional positioning that the specific excise tax should adhere to under the background of tax and fee reduction in China,quantitatively analyzes the possible impact of the excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages(SSBs)from the following three aspects:the fiscal function,the distribution function and the function of correcting negative externality.The findings are as follows:Firstly,the fiscal revenue generated by the excise tax on SSBs shows that under the 20%excise tax rate recommended by WHO,the increase range of the domestic excise tax revenue is between 2%and 14%.In the context of a tight fiscal balance as the norm,raising fiscal revenue is a necessary function of the excise tax,and from this point of view,imposing a tax on sugary drinks is an important option.Secondly,the effect of SSBs excise tax on the income gap between urban and rural residents shows that,compared with other countries that have introduced excise taxes on sugary drinks,the tax burden of China’s urban and rural residents increased by such a tax is limited.The main reason is that China is one of the countries with the lowest consumption level of sugary drinks in the world.Therefore,although the introduction of an excise tax on SSBs would have a negative distributive effect,the significance of this effect requires careful consideration.Finally,the excise tax of SSBs is analyzed from the perspective of correcting negative externalities of health.In terms of the economic losses caused by the negative externalities of health,the cost of the negative externalities of health caused by the excessive consumption of SSBs accounts for about 0.10%of the total annual health expenditure in scale,which is much lower than the negative externalities caused by smoking.The SSBs excise tax rate designed on the principle of Pigou tax theory is far lower than the current excise tax rate of SSBs in various countries and the level recommended by WHO.The direct reason for this phenomenon is that the burden of diseases caused by excessive consumption of SSBs in China is relatively light.From the perspective of the impact on residents’health,if the tax is levied,it can reduce the daily intake of the added sugar per adult resident in China to a certain extent,thus reducing the energy intake and the body weight.Taking all the above effects of SSBs excise tax into consideration,under the cost-benefit perspective,compared with its negative effects,the positive benefits of introducing the SSBs excise tax are considerable.Therefore,it is suggested that SSBs excise tax be taken as a starting point to guide residents’healthy diet consumption.Then,according to the effect and the consumption preference of consumers,a specific excise tax on unhealthy food can be formed in accordance with China’s national condition by gradually expanding the tax category,which will further improve the specific excise tax system of China.