MEDIA RELEASE

Activist Academic Fudges Tax Figures

MONDAY, 29 JUNE 2015

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out the anti-sugar activist academic, Gerhard Sundborn, for a second time, for misleading comments on Radio New Zealand this morning that Mexico’s implementation of a ten percent tax on sodas resulted in a twelve percent reduction in consumption. Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“Despite what Mr Sundborn claims, an excise tax on soda has not significantly altered Mexican consumer behaviour.”

“Mexico introduced a tax in April 2014 to which the impact to sales has been virtually zero with unit sales increasing by 0.2% followed by a decrease of only the same amount.”

“The Mexican Government sought to raise $12.5 billion pesos from the tax, but collected $18.3 billion. The expected decrease in demand just hasn’t happened.”

“Taxes on carbonated beverages are inherently regressive, impacting more on the lowest socio-economic groups. Why would we want a policy that amounts to a money grab by politicians?”

Last year the Taxpayers’ Union exposed Mr Sundborn’s campaign group “FIZZ” for falsely claiming support from the New Zealand Health Research Council.

“When activist academics are willing to mislead the public, it naturally leads to questions about their academic credibility. Auckland University should be ensuring academic staff are being fair and balanced, not using their academic titles to mount political campaigns.”

ENDS

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