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Quizz: Should New Yorkers pay an obesity tax?
Did you hear that New York Governor. David Paterson proposed an 18 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened drinks like soda?
Soda consumption in the U.S. is out of control. The average American drinks 11 cans of soda a WEEK! Not only is that considerable, but it’s actually six times more soda than the average American drank in the mid-70s.
On average Americans favour diet drinks, but of those 11 cans there will still be about three that will be sweetened with sugar. I know it might be easy to shrug this off, but let me share these numbers with you: three cans of sugared soda are equivalent to 13 lbs of sugar, and that’s equivalent to about 21,000 calories ADDED to your diet each year.
Since few people are active enough to burn all those calories, that means that it gets stored as FAT!
Paterson is hoping that by adding an 18 per cent tax it will raise the price of soda enough to force people to think twice before they buy their next can. I personally think that adding only 18 per cent more to the cost to a can of soda might actually not be enough to get so many Americans to break their addiction.
Health commissioner Dr. Richard F. Deines explains the problem in detail below:
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October 2nd, 2009 at 10:09
I’m curious how the soda tax will be filtered down to consumers who purchase their carbonized addiction at fast food chains. It’s just so easy for many to grab a “meal deal” with an extra large soda for $0.25 more, you know?
October 3rd, 2009 at 20:15
Grace,
I hear you loud and clear about the logistic, but if we can tax cigarettes, I’m sure there must be a way.
Maybe it’s a question of taxing the vendors (aka fast food places) which will force them to pass on the taxe to the consumer who chooses to buy soda drinks.
I think that if soda was not this cheap, then a lot of people would think twice before buying it.
When you have fast food joints like McDonalds holding a summer long deal (like they did this past summer 2009) where you can buy any soda size for $99 (well, here in Canada) … then who will buy a nice organic juice at $3.99 when they are thirsty?
People have to start feeling the pinch in their wallets to start making smarter food choices … well that’s my opinion in any case!
October 5th, 2009 at 14:44
I’m curious how the soda tax will be filtered down to consumers who purchase their carbonized addiction at fast food chains. It’s just so easy for many to grab a “meal deal” with an extra large soda for $0.25 more, you know?