00:00Much has been said about healthy taxes, that they bankrupted shopkeepers, that they don't work, that there aren't any.
00:07research that supports its effectiveness and even affects the poorest.
00:12At El Espectador, we fact-checked several of those claims.
00:16Spoiler alert: most of them are misleading or outright false.
00:21There is no international evidence beyond models that health taxes improve health indicators.
00:30This is completely false.
00:31Yes, there are studies that have analyzed what happened to real health indicators after implementing taxes on beverages.
00:39sugary.
00:39For example, in England, a study published in this scientific journal analyzed data from more than one million children.
00:46and found that 19 months after the tax, the prevalence of obesity among 10- and 11-year-old girls
00:53years had decreased by 1.6 percentage points, a relative reduction of 8%.
00:59In Seattle, another study followed more than 6,300 children and compared their development with that of children from
01:06nearby areas where the tax did not exist.
01:09After the measurement, they found a statistically significant reduction in a measure of childhood adiposity.
01:18However, the results are not the same in all countries, cities, or population groups.
01:24Nor would it be correct to say that these studies demonstrate that taxes alone are responsible for those
01:32improvements.
01:33There is no evidence that the tax has had a positive effect on health in Colombia.
01:38It's misleading.
01:39This statement omits a key element.
01:42The health tax was approved in 2022 and began to be applied gradually, so it will only be fully implemented in 2025.
01:49reached its full fare.
01:51This matters because diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease don't change immediately.
01:58Note that the lack of sufficient evidence regarding these final outcomes does not mean that there is no evidence at all regarding the
02:05effects of the policy.
02:06What we can study from now on is what is happening with prices, purchases, consumption, and the
02:12product composition.
02:14Taxes on sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods did not change the consumption patterns of Colombians.
02:20They only changed how much they pay for their market.
02:23It is misleading to say that taxes only made products more expensive and does not coincide with what some research already shows.
02:32A work by Paula Andrea Acevedo Rueda from the Industrial University of Santander, for example,
02:38It found that when prices went up, people bought fewer sugary drinks than before.
02:43Another study by Isabela Valencia Prado and Paul Rodríguez Lesmes found a gradual reduction of nearly 40% in the
02:52quantities sold of high sugar beverages.
02:56So, what can we say?
02:58We still don't know if the taxes completely changed the diet of Colombians.
03:05But we also cannot say that its only effect has been to make the market more expensive.
03:11Health taxes increase the cost of basic necessities for Colombian families.
03:16It's misleading.
03:17The DANE CPI is not a list of the foods a family needs to live.
03:22It is a much broader basket that is used to measure inflation.
03:27It includes food, but also housing, transportation, health, education, restaurants, and many other expenses.
03:34According to the Ministry of Finance, the health tax directly affects only 21 of the 443 items that are part of it.
03:42of the basket used to measure inflation.
03:45Rice, potatoes, fruits, vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, fish, and grains, for example.
03:51For example, they are not recorded.
03:54That doesn't mean that a person who buys engraved products won't pay more for them.
03:58Yes, there may be an increase in the price of their products, and that is precisely the purpose.
04:04And be aware, it's not true that guava sandwiches are taxed, as some people are saying here on social media.
04:11It is exempt, as are salami, mortadella, multifarra, bread or ears.
04:18Healthy taxes are regressive and affect the poorest.
04:22This statement is misleading.
04:24If we only look at how much money each household pays, then yes, there can be a regressive effect.
04:29Lower-income families may end up allocating a larger proportion of their budget to taxes than higher-income families.
04:37more income.
04:38But these taxes are not just about raising money.
04:41They also hope that, by raising the price, people will reduce their consumption of these products or replace them with others.
04:47According to data from the Ministry of Health, between 2022 and 2024, daily consumption of packaged foods increased between 20% and 2024.
04:54The population with lower incomes went from 18.1% to 14%.
04:59So, that potential health benefit also has to be taken into account.
05:04The health taxes bankrupted the shopkeepers.
05:07There is no evidence that health taxes have bankrupted shopkeepers.
05:11A survey of end-of-life stores found that 60% of shopkeepers surveyed said the tax had affected
05:18their sales.
05:19But a perception survey only allows you to know how traders perceive the effect of the measure.
05:25It does not allow you to determine how much your sales fell specifically because of the tax.
05:31Meanwhile, neighborhood stores have faced other changes during these years.
05:36A study by Pablo Rodríguez Lesmes and other researchers, published at the end of 2025, analyzed precisely the effects of the
05:44Healthy taxes and labeling on the Colombian labor market.
05:48They did not find statistically significant and widespread reductions in employment, labor income or informality in the sectors analyzed.
05:59In neighborhood stores they found stability in the number of jobs and in total labor income.
06:04So no, taxes haven't bankrupted thousands of stores.
06:08If you want to learn more about this and other topics, follow us on all our social media channels and visit our website.
06:15website, elespectador.com, health section.
06:34Thank you.
06:35Thank you.
06:35Thank you.
