Meat tax could be coming

A Bloomberg report on Dec. 11, 2017 advises, “Move over, taxes on carbon and sugar: the global levy that may be next is meat.” Some investors are betting governments around the world will find a way to start taxing meat production as they aim to improve public health and hit emissions targets set in the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. Socially-focused investors are starting to push companies to diversify into plant protein, or even suggest livestock producers use a “shadow price” of meat—similar to an internal carbon price—to estimate future costs. Meat could encounter the same fate as tobacco, carbon and sugar, which are currently taxed in 180, 60, and 25 jurisdictions around the world, respectively, according to a report from investor group, the FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return) Initiative. Lawmakers in Denmark, Germany, China and Sweden have discussed creating livestock-related taxes in the past two years, though the idea has encountered strong resistance. Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock are about 14.5 percent of the world’s total, according to the Food & Agriculture Organization, which projects global meat consumption to increase 73 percent by mid-century, amid growing demand from economies like India and China. That could result in as much as $1.6 trillion in health and environmental costs for the global economy by 2050, according to FAIRR. TheGuardian British newspaper reported on the FAIRR report, saying the possible impact of a meat tax could be similar to sugar taxes. While sugar taxes aimed at fighting obesity in the U.S. have faced some resistance, similar levies have been implemented in 18 countries and six U.S. cities, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. When Mexico imposed a special tax in 2014 on sugary drinks, it lowered per capita consumption of those beverages by 6 percent in 2014, 8 percent in 2015 and 11 percent in the first half of 2016, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health.