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Tax soda pop:

Sodas, like smokes, are a luxury. You can tax them without depriving anyone of a necessity of life. Because diet sodas create their own metabolic problems that have been tied to obesity and heart disease, even though they don't contain sugar, there's no reason not to tax them, too. Ditto for the energy drinks.

Since it's OK to tax tobacco in the name of public health, Utah should be all over a soda tax. That would spread the tax burden to many more people, and like smokers, if they wanted to opt out, they could.

We're not kidding.

7 Comments:

 Holly on the Hill said...

Rep. Frank jokingly laughed about a cold caffeine tax early in the session. To continue the discussion on "targeted taxes" and to point out how they aren't good tax policy, he slipped a one-liner in on the interim study master list. I'm guessing he had no idea what a Pandora's box he would unleash....I am pretty darn sure we won't be seeing a sugar tax, caffeine tax, or soda tax any time soon.

3/16/2009 3:50 PM  

 Anonymous said...

If you're not kidding, then prepare to see the unholy wrath of vendors, bottlers, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations and everyday citizens over this over-reaching idea.

Comparing the health effects of soda and caffeinated beverages taken in moderation compared to the damage done by smoke inhalation is idiotic.

3/16/2009 4:08 PM  

 keldwud said...

Anonymous,
That would be idiotic if it weren't for the fact that obesity related diseases are the number one killer in America. I think you have your eyes on backwards there.

Cancer is a broad one and you are welcome to spin your rhetoric and tell us that it is all carcinogen related from smoking, but you would be wrong.

I'll let you take this opportunity to look up some facts on your own before trumpeting about like an illiterate pansy.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/lcod.htm

Heart disease: 652,091
Cancer: 559,312
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 143,579
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 130,933
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 117,809
Diabetes: 75,119
Alzheimer's disease: 71,599
Influenza/Pneumonia: 63,001
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 43,901
Septicemia: 34,136

3/16/2009 4:18 PM  

 Anonymous said...

Keldwud, I'm glad you get off calling people illiterate on the internet. But before resort to such, perhaps you should have yourself practiced a little reading comprehension.

I said MODERATION. See, sodas can be consumed in moderation. The addictive effects of caffeine are no where near those of nicotine.

Obesity is indeed a big problem. However, there is no convincing research showing a causal link between caffeine addiction and obesity. Sugar consumption and obesity? Sure. But if we're going down that road, we had better enact taxes on candy, ice cream, baked goods, kool-aid and anything else containing sugar or sugar subsitutes.

3/16/2009 4:45 PM  

 The Senate Site said...

Easy, tigers. Let's keep the conversation . . . decaffeinated.

3/16/2009 6:26 PM  

 Laura B said...

I'm laughing out loud at that one, RC....

3/17/2009 2:13 AM  

 Steven said...

Keldwud
"That would be idiotic if it weren't for the fact that obesity related diseases are the number one killer in America"
When you lower the threshold for what we call obese, as has been done using deeply flawed BMI measurements, you increase the number of people you can include in any type of disease. Take a bodybuilder who is diagnosed with cancer as an example. BMI will say he's obese or even morbidly obese. The fact that he is far from fat is overlooked and his cancer is tied to obesity. We create a crisis so we can use government to solve it. How wonderful.

3/17/2009 9:27 PM  

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