The blog post 2025: A Crucial Year for Scaling Up Health Taxes discusses the urgent need to increase health taxes as a solution to the global health and fiscal crises. Written by Pete Baker, Katherine Klemperer, William Savedoff, and Javier Guzman, it highlights how health taxes on products like tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages can both reduce non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and generate vital revenue for health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The authors underscore that health taxes could raise up to $3.7 trillion over the next five years, saving millions of lives and supporting global health priorities. However, progress has been slow due to resistance from industries and low tax levels. The blog proposes four key strategies to overcome these challenges, including strategic framing, mobilizing public support, restricting industry influence, and clear communication.
The post emphasizes the critical window leading up to the UN’s High-Level Meeting on NCDs in autumn 2025, urging governments, civil society, and multilateral agencies to unite and push for robust, sustained health taxes to protect public health and strengthen health systems worldwide.
