Abstract
The gross amount of ‘sin taxes’ incorporated into the price of foods are not currently disclosed on food labels in the European Union. The ongoing discourse over food labelling centers instead on nutritional content labelling and ‘traffic light’ or ‘inverted pyramid’ labels in the United Kingdom and France. However, food ‘sin tax’ labelling may serve as a workable nutrition signpost for at least 15 reasons. For example, food ‘sin tax’ labelling is (i) simple for consumers to use and understand (ii) objective, and (iii) beyond any legal challenge in the European Union. Since food products are bought and sold using money it is reasonable to think that relative price and taxes may be broadly important in food choice to many consumers. Furthermore, a substantial subset of consumers may be so viscerally opposed to taxation that the payment of food taxes of even a small amount seems more immediate and objectionable than the prospect of disease from an unhealthy diet. For such fiscally-conscious consumers (and to a lesser extent for all consumers concerned with the relative price of foods), ‘sin tax’ food labelling could supplant or enhance the effectiveness of nutritional content labels in influencing consumer choice toward healthier food options.