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One take on the soda tax
Posted on Mon, March 15, 2010 by Jerusha Klemperer
10 Comments | Categories: News, Current Events, Policy, Take Action, Uncategorized,
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by intern Valerie Scott
I wish I was virtuous enough to stick to just water and wine, but I’m not – like most of America, I like soda. So why do I support the controversial proposal in New York to impose a tax on soda? Because taxes like this one are proven to reduce weight and lower risk of diabetes. And I think that’s worth a few extra pennies of punishment for a guilty pleasure.
All week, I’ve been hearing commercials from the Alliance for a Healthier New York in favor of the proposed NY “soda tax.” New York state health officials are aiming to levy a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary soda. New York Governor David Paterson proposed the soda tax in January and last week Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged state legislators to impose the tax.
I was still on the fence until a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill convinced me that a soda tax is worthwhile. The study followed more than 5,000 participants for 20 years, tracking the average price of fast food and soda in the counties in which the participants lived. The diet, weight and insulin levels of the participants were also analyzed. The results show that weight and risk of diabetes decreased for people in communities where soda and fast food prices increased.
The senior author of the study, Barry Popkin, Ph.D, states, “Our results provide robust evidence to support the potential health benefits of taxing selected foods and beverages as a way of improving public health.”
Of course, at the end of the day, a tax is about raising revenue and the New York soda tax will do that. The tax could raise up to $1 billion annually to fund health care programs across the state. State Health Commissioner Richard Daines told the NY Daily News, “It’s a triple play. We would reduce obesity, earn revenue to support health care and, in the long run, cut health care costs.”
President Obama has said that soda taxes are “an idea worth exploring,” but since the failure of Governor Paterson’s first attempt to tax soda in 2009 and ongoing health care reform woes, the administration has not proposed a similar tax on the national level. A success story in New York would be one step towards changing that.
Bottom line – I think the soda tax could be an important way to reduce obesity and diabetes and fund health care programs overburdened with the high costs of chronic disease.
If you live in New York and want to contact your legislators about the soda tax, click here!
Member Comments
From Angela on Mon, March 15, 2010
From Illinois: Kuddos to New York. Good luck passing the tax and leading the nation in promoting good health.
From FoodFitnessFreshAir on Mon, March 15, 2010
Soda tax is being heavily considered in Philly after Mayor Nutter’s proposal. I think it’s a great idea. Soda is like tobacco, an unnecessary indulgence. While the occasional consumption of soda is okay, there’s no need to drink it. So with that being said, why not add a tax to help boost state’s economies and help our nation fight obesity. It’s not like soda is being banned, it’s simply being taxed.
From Lisa Cain on Tue, March 16, 2010
I think this is a fantastic idea. It’s not necessarily going to cut down on people drinking this carbonated beverage right away; but, it sure will stimulate people’s thinking that maybe it’s just NOT WORTH jeopardizing your health for something if you have to pay more to do it. And, after all soda is NOT a food!
From AcevedoJANA23 on Tue, March 16, 2010
Some people need a long time to see the key issue of the custom book reports. But when different students don?t have time, that would be better to buy research papers. Then this would be real to save reputation.
From Daniel on Wed, March 17, 2010
Id have to disagree personally. Taxation as a deterrent is a reprehensible thought to me. Im not a fan of fast food or soda of any kind, however I believe that the solution to the problem lies with education and not taxation.
People have the right to make decisions, even if they are not the healthiest of choices. While I recognize that these choices have impacts external of the person making them. Where is the line drawn? Consider butter. High in saturated fat and calories, it has some minor health benefits when consumed in controlled portions, but most north americans consume it in quantities which would override its underlying boons…should we tax it as well?
Anyways, I went on too long 
Im not a fan of taxation, or soda. We can leave it at that!
From Valerie Scott on Wed, March 17, 2010
It’s great to read everyone’s comments. More than anything, I think it’s important to build a conversation around public health and possible solutions - particularly controversial ones such as the soda tax. So I want to emphasize again that this post is just my personal take on a complicated issue. I absolutely agree that there are valid concerns with the tax - for me, the proven public health benefits outweigh those concerns, but it’s important to consider them carefully.
One thought-provoking quote that shapes my perspective: “What you want is to reverse the fact that healthy food is too expensive and unhealthy food is too cheap, and the soda tax is a start.”
That quote comes from Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and is published in an interesting article you might want to check out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/weekinreview/14bittman.html
I’d love to hear more thoughts, thanks for being part of the discussion!
From chris lee on Wed, March 17, 2010
@Daniel.
People will still have the right to enjoy all the butter, prime rib, soda, bleached white flour, and pesticides they want; nobody is suggesting to get rid of soda - yet. Sure, I listed more than what was needed, but it’s insane to me how we feel that we have the RIGHT to eat whatever our scientists concoct. The instant something new comes out, people feel like it’s their divine right to have it. In my mind the world and every living thing in it could benefit from never having had soda (I’ll just stick with soda to save time). For now, though, I support the tax and hope that it gets the ball rolling in other states and continue to push for a major overhaul of health all over America and the world for that matter.
From CaseyWdsn on Wed, March 17, 2010
I agree 100% with Cris Lee. We need to get the greedy corporate food industry under control. Take scientists completely out of the loop. People have proven time and time again that they are simply not smart enough not to eat what ever is put before them.
From AFAR on Wed, March 31, 2010
This tax is ridiculous. In a city that feeds it’s children absolute garbage in the public schools it’s ironic that it’s trying to levy this soda tax.
I was recently in a public school that has a cool initiative in which the kids try to compost all of their food waste. Nice right? The bread they are served is so full of preservatives that hundreds of pounds of worms couldn’t break it down. So they stopped composting bread. That bread scares me. More than sugar in soda.
Bloomberg needs to clean up what the kids are eating and educate people about food and then, maybeeee, a tax on soda.
From chris lee on Wed, March 31, 2010
@ AFAR
It IS ridiculous that somehow this is the best we can come up with. Health has taken on a new meaning. There is a veil over America where companies are allowed to purposely mislead the public by labeling something “healthy” just because it has 10% whole wheat (when the rest is processed and filled with chemical pesticides and fertilizers).
It is also disturbing that for some reason most people enjoy the ignorance. They enjoy not knowing about their food. This tax represents a small step towards something closer towards resembling health. The danger, though, is if this tax gets promoted and people begin to feel as though they’ve hit a home run for health; as if this was a major triumph and things will be much better now. I just hope this acts as a catalyst towards further health reform - true health reform.
