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Will taxing soda help us slim down?
Posted on Dec 24th 2007 8:30AM by Adams Briscoe
Soda has gotten a bad reputation over the years. As our national waistline grows, many people blame these sugary drinks (and lack of exercise too). In San Francisco, the mayor is proposing a "soda tax" in order to raise funds to combat chronic obesity. Gavin Newsom thinks that when grocery stores sell drinks with high fructose corn syrup, they should be taxed for it.The cause and effect nature of excessive soda consumption is evident. As this old post states, if you're trying to shed pounds then stop drinking cokes. And here's one referring to the report claiming that dark-colored cola could increase your risk for kidney disease!
But is this the right move to encourage healthy living? Taxing soda by itself seems a bit unfair. Why not just tax Twinkies while they're at it? From a purely dietary standpoint, any number of junk food culprits could be singled out here. A tax on soda, or better yet any unhealthy food, could be a very effective way to raise funds for anti-obesity initiatives. However, it's an obvious move by the government to tinker with the free market that could end up killing this proposal in its tracks. It will definitely be interesting to see how this pans out.
