From an opinion piece by David Paterson for CNN about the proposed soda tax: "Just as the cigarette tax has helped reduce the number of smokers and smoking-related deaths, a tax on highly caloric, non-nutritional beverages can help reduce the prevalence of obesity."
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Comments
That's BS, he's just trying to legitimize a new way to make money.
The tax on cigarettes probably costs smokers at least $20 bucks a week. (Figure $1.50 per pack, 2x a day times 7 is $21... twice this in NYC) That's a lot of money, and probably got some people to quit.
But unless 12 packs of soda increase by $5 each, there isn't going to be much difference in the soda consumption. People aren't going to stop buying soda because a 12 pack is 50 cents more than it was before.
He's trying to act like a savior but IMO it's all about legitimization.
... said Matt on Dec 19, 2008 at 2:34 PM | link
Well, this is horrible news for me but at least they're not taxing coffee.. yet.
I'm curious to see if anybody knows of anyone who has quit smoking because of the additional taxes. My horrible smoking friends and I have not. The only thing the tax has made us do is come up with cheaper ways to smoke our cigs. In yo' face Dave!
... said caffeine on Dec 19, 2008 at 2:38 PM | link
Governor Patterson may be justiftying the tax, but he's not wrong about its potential impact. People will stop buying soda if it costs more, there's a mountain of research to prove it. And yes, thousands of people quit smoking because of the tax increase -
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18021908?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
... said Barold on Dec 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM | link
So, Patterson is going to make alcohol easier to obtain and soda more difficult to get. That makes perfect sense. :-/
... said Em on Dec 19, 2008 at 6:48 PM | link
I'm not saying that soda is a nutritious drink, but getting people who want soda to buy diet soda filled with bizarre chemicals is not exactly healthy either.
... said Tori on Dec 20, 2008 at 11:06 AM | link