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The skinny on soda taxes, in under 3 minutes

By Roxanne Makasdjian

Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Phil Ebiner

Soda tax initiatives are on the Nov. 4 ballots in Berkeley and San Francisco, and the controversial local measures have attracted nationwide attention. In this video, Alan Auerbach, the Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law at UC Berkeley, looks at the pros and cons of the measures, which would boost the price of sweetened drinks by 1 cent in Berkeley and 2 cents in San Francisco.

How would the taxes work? What are the major arguments for and against? Have existing laws aimed at changing personal health behavior been successful? To find out, take a few minutes to watch this primer with Auerbach, who also directs the Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance at Berkeley..