In a recent interview with “Men’s Health” magazine, President Barack Obama said the idea of taxing soda and sugary drinks is something “that we should be exploring.”
"There's no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda,” Obama said in the interview released last week. “And every study that's been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else."
This week, the “New England Journal of Medicine” called for a penny-per-ounce tax on soda.
But critics, including the American Beverage Association, argue that a soda tax won’t reduce obesity. “You just can’t tax someone to better health,” the group argues. It says a soft drink tax “has far more to do with a money grab by big government to pay for even bigger government.”
The Center for Consumer Freedom, a food and restaurant industry group, points to an analysis showing that, to actually make a dent in the obesity rates, Congress would need a 1,200 percent tax on soda – which works out to $9 in tax on a 75-cent can.
"The tax code shouldn't be a tool for social engineering," said J. Justin Wilson, senior research analyst at the Center. "Nor should it be an instrument for penalizing individuals who make food choices that some people in government don't like."
"The tax code shouldn't be a tool for social engineering," said J. Justin Wilson, senior research analyst at the Center. "Nor should it be an instrument for penalizing individuals who make food choices that some people in government don't like."
The man must be dreaming. The tax code has been a tool for social engineering for about 100 years or so. Me thinks the "senior research analyst" would care not if only it were someone else's ox being gored.
If soda contributes to poor health, I would have no problem with a tax to discourage its consumption...same as alcohol and tobacco. Obesity reduces productivity in the workplace or at least it would certainly seem that way presuming it increases morbidity and perhaps mortality.
Hey, VC1111, tobacco tax hasn't stopped Barry from smoking. Alcohol tax hasn't stopped him from drinking a beer... Maybe they should tax fried chicken too, that's real fatting.
If soda contributes to poor health, I would have no problem with a tax to discourage its consumption...same as alcohol and tobacco. Obesity reduces productivity in the workplace or at least it would certainly seem that way presuming it increases morbidity and perhaps mortality.
But then, I don't drink the stuff.
If soda contributes to poor health, I would have no problem with a tax to discourage its consumption...same as alcohol and tobacco. Obesity reduces productivity in the workplace or at least it would certainly seem that way presuming it increases morbidity and perhaps mortality.
But then, I don't drink the stuff. I see if it doesn't effect you then bring it on Berry?
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Hunting is not a sport,it's a lifestyle.
Well if we're going to tax soda, alcohol and tobacco, I propose the following ALSO be taxed, to promote good health and reduce use:
a: potato chips, nuts, ice cream and candy (high fat, high sugar, high calorie contents)
b: McDonald's Food
c: Wendy's Food
d: KFC
e: Burger King
f: White Castle
g: Bennigan's & Friday's
h: IHOP
i: Friendly's
j: Carvel
k: Baskin & Robbins
l: Ben & Jerry's (which NOBODY on this board should EVER buy)
Yes...let's all be slim, trim and healthy. Next, let's tax individual citizens by the number of pounds they are overweight...say, 2 bucks a pound...that'll socially engineer some mightly healthy folks for sure. And while we're at it, we need to tax sun-worshippers for their propensity to skin cancer (meter their time in the sun), monitor consumers of alcohol (liver and kidney disease resulting from high alcohol consumption). We need to monitor those males who are promiscuous in their personal lives...those with more than about 3 sexual partners pose a greater risk of prostate cancers than those who are more sedentary in their proclivities...we all know how much productivity is lost in fighting prostate cancer so let's hit 'em where it hurts, guys. But first, let's Harass the fatties because we don't like 'em. There's the ticket. Make 'em sweat the weight off ...if they're too far gone to exercise, make 'em starve the weight off. So once the fatties are all either dead, 'reformed' or taxed into bankruptcy, who do we go after next ? Is it a pre-requisite that we don't like the way they look, or can any group be singled out for this sort of focused 'attention' ? I vote we 'go after' liberal democrats; they pose an unacceptable risk to the rest of the normal human population by the expression of their asinine views, their dangerous positions on self-defense and weapons use, their idiotic views on national defense and their continued incessant attempts at social engineering projects in their effort to produce the mythical
uber-menschen (or to financially subjugate the world in the attempt).
When has it become governments business to insure we eat right! Seems this administration is wanting to control every avenue of our lives. Good grief, we have a lot of stupid people in the U.S. penalizing the rest of us is over the line.
No one including the government is going to protect people from themselves.
If soda contributes to poor health, I would have no problem with a tax to discourage its consumption...same as alcohol and tobacco. Obesity reduces productivity in the workplace or at least it would certainly seem that way presuming it increases morbidity and perhaps mortality.
But then, I don't drink the stuff.
Looks to me like vc1111 has it nailed. No one squaks about the high taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. It is a way to raise revenue. It is not a necessity. It doesn't negatively impact the poor (who don't need to drink soda if money is tight). Like vc1111, I likewise rarely drink soda.
On the other hand . . . I would not be happy if Obama began taxing other foods that might be associated with excessive calories. Likewise with foods that the government deems "unhealthy." I prefer to manage my health myself. For example, through diet and exercise I manage my cholesterol level, my blood pressure, my heart rate (44 beats per minute when visiting the doc back in August, ya!), and my weight. This does not mean, however, that I never eat foods that are "bad" for me, it just means that I manage these over indulgences with corresponding offsetting austerities. My argument is that if I'm maintaining the key parameters at desirable levels I ought to be doing OK. Thus, I would not welcome government intrusions trying to steer me away from the occasional indulgence (saturday evening) in fatty imported cheeses, a rib eye steak, bratwurst, lamb chops, etc. Sure, make a daily diet of these things and my crystal ball would predict some triple bypass operations might be in your future; a occasional (saturday evening) excess tempered with good discipline the rest of the week ought to be OK, at least in a healthy bodily constitution.
Still . . . bring on the soda tax! Maybe dissenters will have a soda party, spilling cases of soda into Boston harbor, substituging some other equally offensive and damaging beverage which is not under the tyrannical tax levy of the government?!!!
(44 beats per minute when visiting the doc back in August, ya!),
That is amazing.
Quote:
I see if it doesn't effect you then bring it on Berry?
Lol, are you seriously torqued up about a soda tax? How many cans do you ingest on a daily basis? Seriously?
If anything a sin tax is one over which one can exercise complete control.
You want something to scream about? Wait till you see where the federal income tax is headed and that is inevitable in the wake of the last 12 months record spending by both sides. Believe me, you'll giggle at a soda tax in comparison.
Let me repeat this for you...this type of tax has been utilized for decades so unless you have something unique to add, I don't see anything particularly earth-shattering going on here. Its like a toll road...just don't go down that road and you can keep your change.
Of course, you guys could admit the truth....the article had the word "Obama" in it, so you going into a sort of involuntary seizure wherein your brain locks up and you begin lashing out at anyone who isn't spitting and fuming.
A soda tax is pretty much a non-issue in the whole scheme of things. Actually, we'll probably see a lot of creative ways devised to relieve us of our money in the months and years to come as the fed and the state go about finding ways to stay solvent.
Soda Tax?
