Perceptions of Young People Regarding the Tax on Sweetened Drinks in Poland and an Assessment of Changes in Their Consumption in Terms of Taxation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This study adds to the growing body of research on the impact and perceptions related to SSB taxes. This is a small study apparently using a convenience sample from one Polish region/community. It is not clear what the participation rate is (only number included is given), and the cluster effect of included schools enrolled is not considered in the data analyses. Furthermore, results are not adjusted for age and gender differences between the two groups included (secondary school students and university students).

Two tables are included presenting the reported change in SSB consumption after introduction of the tax (Table 1) and reported usual intake (Table 2) respectively. A more interesting analyses would have been to see reported change by consumption group, but the overall sample might be too small to allow for this.

I question the rational the authors present for conducting this study. It is stated in the Abstract that “It is known that the effectiveness of fiscal policy in changing eating habits depends on public perception of taxes.” This is a questionable statement, as price/cost of any consumer goods seems to influence consumption independent on whether it is a tax or other reasons for the higher price. On page 2 (line 56-57) it is stated: “Tax policy assumes that consumers will be aware that a change in the price of products is a consequence of taxes….” I would argue the opposite, that tax policy might have its impact independent of whether the consumer is aware of the tax or not, as it is the final price/cost that matters. Furthermore, the authors claim: “The literature also emphasises that for governmental interventions promoting healthy dietary choices to be effective, consumer knowledge and the degree of acceptance of such interventions are crucial [21-25].” While acceptance of government policies is crucial, as far as I can see, none of the five cited studies address whether knowledge and acceptance are influencing how effective SSB taxes (or other fiscal measures) are.

There are good reasons to investigate how young people perceive policies, including self-reported behavior changes ascribed to SSB taxes, even without claiming that knowledge, awareness, and acceptance of a tax is crucial for its impact.

Finally, it is important that the language used consistently reflect that it is self-reported/perceived data that are presented, i.e., insert the terms in bold and capital letters: Abstract (line 24-25): “According to the study, as a result of the tax, almost one third of surveyed young Poles REPORTED to drink less beverages than before the tax”; and Purpose (page 2; line 74-75): “…. the aim of this study was to assess the awareness of the tax and its PERCEIVED impact on beverage consumption habits among young people.”

Author Response

This study adds to the growing body of research on the impact and perceptions related to SSB taxes. This is a small study apparently using a convenience sample from one Polish region/community. It is not clear what the participation rate is (only number included is given), and the cluster effect of included schools enrolled is not considered in the data analyses. Furthermore, results are not adjusted for age and gender differences between the two groups included (secondary school students and university students).

This data has been supplemented. At the same time, we would like to explain that the same number of school students and university students is completely coincidental.

Two tables are included presenting the reported change in SSB consumption after introduction of the tax (Table 1) and reported usual intake (Table 2) respectively. A more interesting analyses would have been to see reported change by consumption group, but the overall sample might be too small to allow for this.

Thank you for your suggestion, but in this study it is rather impossible.

I question the rational the authors present for conducting this study. It is stated in the Abstract that “It is known that the effectiveness of fiscal policy in changing eating habits depends on public perception of taxes.” This is a questionable statement, as price/cost of any consumer goods seems to influence consumption independent on whether it is a tax or other reasons for the higher price. On page 2 (line 56-57) it is stated: “Tax policy assumes that consumers will be aware that a change in the price of products is a consequence of taxes….” I would argue the opposite, that tax policy might have its impact independent of whether the consumer is aware of the tax or not, as it is the final price/cost that matters. Furthermore, the authors claim: “The literature also emphasises that for governmental interventions promoting healthy dietary choices to be effective, consumer knowledge and the degree of acceptance of such interventions are crucial [21-25].” While acceptance of government policies is crucial, as far as I can see, none of the five cited studies address whether knowledge and acceptance are influencing how effective SSB taxes (or other fiscal measures) are.

We have made changes to the text.

 There are good reasons to investigate how young people perceive policies, including self-reported behavior changes ascribed to SSB taxes, even without claiming that knowledge, awareness, and acceptance of a tax is crucial for its impact.

Finally, it is important that the language used consistently reflect that it is self-reported/perceived data that are presented, i.e., insert the terms in bold and capital letters: Abstract (line 24-25): “According to the study, as a result of the tax, almost one third of surveyed young Poles REPORTED to drink less beverages than before the tax”; and Purpose (page 2; line 74-75): “…. the aim of this study was to assess the awareness of the tax and its PERCEIVED impact on beverage consumption habits among young people.”

Thank you for your valuable comment, this has been corrected.

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

beverages-3152108 _ Perceptions of young people regarding the tax on sweetened drinks in Poland and their consumption after the introduction of taxation.

The aim of this study was to analyse young people's attitudes towards the effectiveness of the tax on sugary drinks, as well as their beverage consumption patterns during the second year of the tax's implementation in Poland.

The abstract should clearly indicate the study's design and the basic characteristics of the population involved, as the study was conducted among both school pupils and university students. It should also specify how the impact of the tax on sugary drinks was evaluated, particularly the changes before and after its introduction (in 2021) and when the study was carried out.

The introduction effectively highlights the importance of the topic and the current situation, using relevant literature, and clearly states the objective of the study.

In the Materials and Methods section, as mentioned in the abstract, there is a lack of detail regarding the study design, the approval from an ethical research committee, and the type of survey used—whether it was a standardised and validated survey or an ad hoc survey created specifically for this study. If it was the latter, the survey should be included as supplementary material. Additionally, it is important to explain how the students were invited to participate, as this could influence potential information biases. It would be helpful to know whether the questionnaire was administered face-to-face or online, and whether the sample size was calculated to assess changes in beverage consumption. These aspects should be addressed for both school pupils and university students, and the statistical information should be fully detailed.

In the Results section, where it is mentioned that 84% of the population was aware of the tax on sugary drinks, it would be valuable to know whether they understood not only that the tax was introduced, but also the reasons behind it—specifically, the health risks associated with sugary drinks. This is important to consider in the discussion, as changes in consumption behaviour may be influenced by multiple factors, not just the tax.

In the tables, it would be beneficial to include a comparison of proportions between school pupils and university students, rather than just presenting percentages. The current analysis seems rather limited given the relevance of the information.

The discussion is very interesting and well-structured, but the limitations should consider other factors that may have influenced changes in behaviour, such as education or economic constraints.

The conclusion should differentiate between school pupils and university students, as they exhibit different patterns of behaviour.

Overall, this is a very interesting study, but it lacks detailed methodological information and requires a more thorough analysis of the results.

Author Response

beverages-3152108 _ Perceptions of young people regarding the tax on sweetened drinks in Poland and their consumption after the introduction of taxation.

The aim of this study was to analyse young people's attitudes towards the effectiveness of the tax on sugary drinks, as well as their beverage consumption patterns during the second year of the tax's implementation in Poland.

The abstract should clearly indicate the study's design and the basic characteristics of the population involved, as the study was conducted among both school pupils and university students. It should also specify how the impact of the tax on sugary drinks was evaluated, particularly the changes before and after its introduction (in 2021) and when the study was carried out.

This data has been supplemented. In the study limitations, we added the issue of referring to memory for drinking beverages several years earlier.

The introduction effectively highlights the importance of the topic and the current situation, using relevant literature, and clearly states the objective of the study.

Thank you.

In the Materials and Methods section, as mentioned in the abstract, there is a lack of detail regarding the study design, the approval from an ethical research committee, and the type of survey used—whether it was a standardised and validated survey or an ad hoc survey created specifically for this study. If it was the latter, the survey should be included as supplementary material. Additionally, it is important to explain how the students were invited to participate, as this could influence potential information biases. It would be helpful to know whether the questionnaire was administered face-to-face or online, and whether the sample size was calculated to assess changes in beverage consumption. These aspects should be addressed for both school pupils and university students, and the statistical information should be fully detailed.

This data has been supplemented.

In the Results section, where it is mentioned that 84% of the population was aware of the tax on sugary drinks, it would be valuable to know whether they understood not only that the tax was introduced, but also the reasons behind it—specifically, the health risks associated with sugary drinks. This is important to consider in the discussion, as changes in consumption behaviour may be influenced by multiple factors, not just the tax.

Unfortunately, we did not ask about the reasons for introducing the tax.

 

In the tables, it would be beneficial to include a comparison of proportions between school pupils and university students, rather than just presenting percentages. The current analysis seems rather limited given the relevance of the information.

This data has been supplemented.

The discussion is very interesting and well-structured, but the limitations should consider other factors that may have influenced changes in behaviour, such as education or economic constraints.

This data has been supplemented.

The conclusion should differentiate between school pupils and university students, as they exhibit different patterns of behaviour.

This has been corrected.

Overall, this is a very interesting study, but it lacks detailed methodological information and requires a more thorough analysis of the results.

Thank you very much for the nice opinion about our study. We hope that the introduced corrections will be accepted.

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have carefully reviewed the revised version of the manuscript " Perceptions of young people regarding the tax on sweetened drinks in Poland and their consumption after the introduction of taxation." (beverages-3152108),  as well as the authors' response to the suggestions provided to enhance the clarity of their work. I appreciate the effort made by the authors to address the requested information.

However, there is a contradiction between the title of the work, which concerns the consumption of sugary drinks before and after the introduction of the tax, and the study design, which is cross-sectional. In this design, students from schools and universities are asked about their consumption habits both before and at the present moment, which introduces a significant recall bias.

Additionally, the authors have still not provided information regarding the sample size calculation. This is a crucial aspect, as the lack of statistical significance might be due to an insufficient sample size.

As I mentioned previously, it is also important to consider that when a tax is introduced on products such as sugary drinks, there is often an accompanying effort to inform young people through the media about the reasons for this measure. Moreover, schools may offer talks on the risks associated with sugary drink consumption. It would be helpful to know whether similar initiatives were implemented in Poland, as this should be taken into account in the discussion. The change in behaviour might not be solely due to the price increase but also to better-informed youth.

I believe it is necessary for the authors to clarify these points to improve the quality of the work. If they are unable to address these issues satisfactorily, they should include them as limitations in the study.

Author Response

I have carefully reviewed the revised version of the manuscript " Perceptions of young people regarding the tax on sweetened drinks in Poland and their consumption after the introduction of taxation." (beverages-3152108),  as well as the authors' response to the suggestions provided to enhance the clarity of their work. I appreciate the effort made by the authors to address the requested information.

However, there is a contradiction between the title of the work, which concerns the consumption of sugary drinks before and after the introduction of the tax, and the study design, which is cross-sectional. In this design, students from schools and universities are asked about their consumption habits both before and at the present moment, which introduces a significant recall bias.

Thank you for your suggestion. The title of the article has been changed

 

Additionally, the authors have still not provided information regarding the sample size calculation. This is a crucial aspect, as the lack of statistical significance might be due to an insufficient sample size.

Relevant information has been added to the study limitations

As I mentioned previously, it is also important to consider that when a tax is introduced on products such as sugary drinks, there is often an accompanying effort to inform young people through the media about the reasons for this measure. Moreover, schools may offer talks on the risks associated with sugary drink consumption. It would be helpful to know whether similar initiatives were implemented in Poland, as this should be taken into account in the discussion. The change in behaviour might not be solely due to the price increase but also to better-informed youth.

I believe it is necessary for the authors to clarify these points to improve the quality of the work. If they are unable to address these issues satisfactorily, they should include them as limitations in the study.

Information has been supplemented in the discussion. At the same time, we would like to inform you that from September 2025, health education will be introduced in primary and secondary schools in Poland.