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‘Choice should be made through… educated decisions not regressive dictates’ : discursive framings of a proposed ‘sugar tax’ in Bermuda : analysis of submissions to a government consultation
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Williams, Sarah, Hill, Sarah E. and Oyebode, Oyinlola (2022) ‘Choice should be made through… educated decisions not regressive dictates’ : discursive framings of a proposed ‘sugar tax’ in Bermuda : analysis of submissions to a government consultation. Globalization and Health, 18 (1). 89. doi:10.1186/s12992-022-00877-7 ISSN 1744-8603.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-022-00877-7
Abstract
Background: Several governments have introduced taxes on products with high sugar content as part of their obesity prevention strategies. Bermuda is the first jurisdiction to apply such measures in the Caribbean – a region of small island developing states and territories with high obesity prevalence and substantial reliance on imported food products. This study examines how commercial and health actors framed the proposed introduction of a 75% import tariff on high-sugar products, based on written submissions to the Bermudan government.
Methods: Eleven submissions containing written comments were analysed with reference to their framing of the proposed import tariff, the ‘problem’ of obesity, and the relationship between the two (including alternative policy approaches for tackling obesity).
Results: Key emergent frames were complexity, partnership, products, personal responsibility, affordability and evidence. Respondents favoured different framings, depending on whether they supported or opposed the proposed import duty. Commercial actors were universally opposed, presenting obesity as a ‘complex’ problem that would be better addressed through government-industry partnerships (a framing particularly favoured by international and regional business associations). Increased product range and an emphasis on personal responsibility were also positioned as policy alternatives. Health actors expressed partial support for the proposed sugar tax, although this was tempered by a perceived lack of evidence where the proposal differed from sugar taxes introduced elsewhere. Like commercial respondents, health actors framed obesity as a ‘complex’ problem and emphasised the need for other measures, including efforts to address the affordability of fruits and vegetables.
Conclusion: In responding to a proposed ‘sugar tax’ in Bermuda, commercial actors opposed the proposal and stated a clear preference for ‘partnership’ approaches to tackling obesity. Commercial responses were dominated by local businesses (with only two responses received from international or regional business associations), perhaps reflecting Bermuda’s reliance on tourism and hospitality and the specificity of the proposed intervention (that is, an import tariff rather than an excise tax). The much smaller number of responses from health actors suggests limited civil society capacity. Nevertheless, the Bermudan government successfully introduced a 75% tariff on high-sugar imports, demonstrating the potential for policy innovation to address obesity in small-island jurisdictions.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School | ||||||
SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Taxation -- Bermuda, Sugar -- Taxation -- Bermuda, Nutrition policy --Bermuda, Obesity -- Prevention -- Bermuda | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Globalization and Health | ||||||
Publisher: | Biomed Central | ||||||
ISSN: | 1744-8603 | ||||||
Official Date: | 21 October 2022 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 18 | ||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 10 | ||||||
Article Number: | 89 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1186/s12992-022-00877-7 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 12 December 2022 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 13 December 2022 | ||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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