“A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examines the health affects of soda and other sugary drinks. The authors of the study propose a tax on these products and contend that it would not only reduce obesity among Americans, but it would raise billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to fund healthcare.” – Newsy
We don’t drink sodas at our house, even the so-called natural ones, so it wouldn’t affect us, but what’s your opinion on a soda tax? Good, bad, or meh?
Image: poolie at Flickr
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
{ 6 trackbacks }
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great idea. Obesity related illness topped smoking related illness as far as medical claims for the first time a few years ago. If you are going to tax ciggs, then you should tax sodas. I’d take it a step further and put a tax on anything that contains high fructose corn syrup and also high saturated fat products.
Adam Shake´s last blog ..Planet Green Announces New Green Materials Guide
It’s not going to stop anyone from drinking soda. However, it may raise a little money to help out with the spiraling healthcare costs that drinking soda is at least partially responsible for. I know people who drink a two-liter a day! My own husband used to drink six cans of Pepsi every day until I helped him see the light. LOL. That’s not to say he never drinks soda, but we don’t buy it for the house anymore.
A better tactic– IMHO — outlawing soda in all schools. Kids build these bad habits young. Take the soda out of the schools and half your battle is won.
I am for it. I think it makes absolutely no sense to tax cigs & alchohol & not this other stuff that is causing so many health problems. Few people would stop drinking it (though they’d certainly cut back) and we can use the money!
I also really feel like we should NOT let foodstamps (which i am on & am very greatful for) cover soda & super sugary foods! They don’t cover other things with a luxury tax, and i don’t think they should cover this either. My friends who work at grocery stores say that the people with EBT cards are also the people with the cart FULL of pop & candy & chips & junk food. All around the world the poorest are, indeed, the biggest consumers of junk food- it’s cheap & gives a little buzz.
And if my fellow EBT-ers are anything like me, we’re also on government health care. As someone who appreciates both social systems AND cost efficiency, it’s downright dumb for the government to cover both the treatment and the CAUSE for our diabetes and such =\
Ameya´s last blog ..Cloth Corral: A little late this week. Sorry folks!
There is no mechanism at the federal government level in place to collect tax on soda or any other consumer item. So while I am generally in favor of a tax that could help curb America’s obesity problem, the requirement that an entirely new bureaucracy be created to collect it is daunting.
I hate the idea of our government profiting from our bad habits. I am not a fan of so much government money coming from tobacco, gasoline, or junk food. I just don’t trust our government to help our country change when their money relies on us getting making the same poor choices.
Fructose can increase appetite, did you ever notice you are never really “full” from a glass of soda or sweet juice, you tend to want to snack on something or follow it up with a glass of water?