Soda Tax Coming to a State Near You

I told you it was coming here with cigarette taxes.

A recent Rasmussen survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found that 56 percent of Americans are against taxes on candy and soda. Yet….

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New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this month that he is trying to raise $1 billion a year in revenue by supporting proposals to tax soft drinks at a rate of a penny-per-ounce. This, despite a poll of new Yorkers who opposed the idea in 2008 when Gov. Patterson first proposed the idea. 

Philadelphia Mayor Nutter also wants to solve his budget problems with the same soda tax remedy to the tune of two cents per ounce. His proposed “Healthy Philadelphia Initiative” tax would cover all sweetened beverages- soda, energy drinks, ice tea, coffee drinks, even chocolate milk. He said that baby formula would be excluded….how kind!

Anchorage Alaska Assembly woman, Sheila Selkregg is also proposing a 2 cent excise tax on a can of soda and 4 cents for  liter containers.

There are seven states in total that are seriously considering adding additional taxation for sweetened drinks to soften budget shortfalls. More than 30 states already have some form of soda tax. See what your current state food taxes, soda taxes, and chip/pretzel taxes are here-

Of course, a new study is being released just as soda tax advocates try to drum up support to either increase existing taxes, take exemptions away, or start a new soda tax. At first, the study seems to work against soda tax advocates, but just keep reading.

The Rand Study research can be found in the journal Health Affairs. It was funded by the federal government and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This study was based on a 2004 national survey of 7,300 fifth graders. It looked at how the children’s weight and height had changed over a two year period and how often the child drank soda and sports drinks. About 2/3 of the children lived in a state that had an additional food tax on soda. The study concluded that the taxes overall didn’t make a difference on soda consumption or the obesity rate.  The tax did have a small effect (one less soda per week) on children of families with an annual income of $25,000 or less.

Then, the study gets to the crux of their findings. Ronald Strum, lead author of the research says, “If the taxes were more like 18 cents on the dollar it would make a significant difference.” Small taxes will not prevent obesity; taxes have to be high enough to effect consumption, according to Strum.

My Two Cents:

I do not think that one person would argue that soda contributes to good health. However, there are arguments that deem these sin taxes fundamentally wrong.

Behavior modification through taxation is an assault on liberty. The road to tyranny begins by taking little bits by little bits of free will away from man. It is done so subtle and with such “good pretences,” such as for ones own health, that we do not even care that our right to choose is slowly being taken from us. It begins with a tax that raises and raises to obtain un-affordability, then an all out ban.