May 15/New York/U.S. News & World Report -- Several countries, including Hungary and Denmark, have implemented nominal "fat taxes" on unhealthy foods; France has an extra tax on sweetened drinks; and Peru plans to implement a junk food tax in coming months. However, a new paper in the British Medical Journal says that in order for such taxes to be effective, they have to make consumers dig deep: only "fat taxes" of 20% or more are likely to have broad societal impacts.
Proponents argue that junk foods are vices like alcohol and tobacco, which both have large taxes attached to them in many countries.