If At First High Taxes Don't Succeed Tax, tax again.

ETHAN EPSTEIN
AUG 22, 2016
Weekly Standard
Mexico has a serious obesity problem, with seventy percent of adults and thirty percent of children overweight or obese. Indeed, Mexico recently surpassed the United States to become the fattest major country in the world. We don’t win anymore!
A big reason for Mexicans’ growing waistlines is the country’s national addiction to soda. And so, in 2015, the Mexican government imposed a ten percent surcharge on sugary drinks, ostensibly to curb consumption.
The results have been . . .discouraging. The Financial Times reported over the weekend:
“It’s indisputable that this tax has taken in money well,” said Jorge Terrazas, head of the Mexican soft drink producers association, which represents Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottlers. “But it’s also clear that it hasn’t had any impact on consumption.” According to Canadean, the data service, volume sales of fizzy drinks in Mexico rose 0.5 per cent in 2015 after a 1.9 per cent drop in 2014.
But don’t worry: The public health advocates have a solution. “The authorities in Mexico are being urged [by health advocates and senators] to double the tax on sugary drinks in an attempt to reduce obesity and raise revenue,” the FT reported.
It’s an elegant bit of logic: A new tax doesn’t achieve the end that it was designed to achieve? Why, there can only be one explanation: The tax must not be high enough!