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Discussions about a proposed tax on soda and sugary beverages have arisen lately as a way to help counter the rising trend in obesity and to help fund President Obama’s health care initiative, but the food companies that produce those products are fighting to put an end to the talk. Personally, I think the tax sounds like a great idea and hardly think the beverage industry would suffer dramatically from a 3% tax increase.
The proposal is projected to generate over $24 billion dollars over the next four years, which would go a long way towards rebuilding our health care system, a significant portion of which goes towards treating preventable problems such as diabetes and obesity, that have been clearly fueled by decades of an overabundant and cheap calories in our diet. The organization Americans Against Food Tax, which not surprisingly includes many of the countries leading beverage manufacturers wants to portray the proposed tax as un-American. Take for instance this commercial, which depicts drinking soda as a healthy, family activity, and warns of a tax that threatens budgets and life’s pleasures:
Convinced? Me neither. Sounds an awful lot like the creepy commercials that attempt to defend High Fructose Corn Syrup as a “natural” sweetener. A soda tax may not be the ideal solution to dealing with the obesity epidemic, but it certainly could be a step in the right direction towards a healthier country.
CATEGORIES: Culture, Global Health
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While these taxes are good in theory they can also be problematic, because they often times hurt the lower class consumers who often times purchase sugary drinks.
Part of the reason high-sugar drinks (or say, fast food) is popular isn’t just the taste, but also the price and convenience.
While this is a good idea in theory, I am also worried about the effect this would have on the people who buy cheap sugary drinks partly out of necessity. (The people making those commercials though? Forget them.)
Tara- I think your concern for lower income families is genuine and necessary, but fast food restaurants offer free water, so if high-sugar drinks are too expensive, they are given a great alternative health and price-wise.
Tara, I respectfully beg to differ. No where is it written that lower class consumer have to buy soda or other sugary drink. I grew up in what can be considered a lower class area and we did not drink soda, or any of those other fake juices. My mom gave us milk, water or watered down 100% fruit or orange juices. Maybe having a tax on sugary drinks will force people to make more health conscience choices.
Perhaps we should eliminate the subsidies first and let the market deside based on real prices before we impliment a new tax.
Thank you Tara and Jeff, you both make excellent points. Shifting subsidies from commodity crops like corn and soy to fruits and vegetables would offer healthier, more affordable options for everyone.
Down to Earth, an all vegetarian natural foods store chain in Hawaii, is encouraging everyone to check out the new Food Inc movie. See the blog postings about it at: http://blog.dtehawaii.com/
I have been preaching about eating healthym fresh local food for years. The FDA and the USDA cannot seem to ever make a strong stand against the powerful food manufacturers and lobbyists in DC. I am a chef, caterer, personal chef, teacher at our local college and have a radio show on NPR about healthy cooking and eating.
One of my main goals is to teach the children about the food they eat and the results years down the road. I want them to be able to make healthy choices and not be taken in by all of the hype, even by the “healthy” food writers and chefs that insist that food doesn’t taste good unless it has salt, butter and tons of other unnecessary ingredients. I have not used salt in my cooking for years and none of my customers know the difference or have ever complained. I make all of my own spice blends and sauces, stocks, etc. We need to take back our health from these mega giants that think we are all stupid and will follow them anywhere. It needs to stop now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As we walked out of the movie today, I was talking to my husband about why our government would consider imposing a “fat tax” on these unhealthy foods when they’re made so cheap to begin with by government subsidies. To me, it seems analagous to turning a blind eye to the meat companies who illegally import Mexican workers and then cracking down on the workers themselves. Jeff is absolutely correct–we, as taxpayers, should demand that food subsidies be used to encourage production of nutrient-dense foods, instead of subsidizing the industry that produces unhealthy food-like products and penalizing the consumer who buys them.
They are camping with soda and not drinking water? These people have never camped out in their life! They will get dehydrated and need to get airlifted to the hospital.
I like the soda tax but assume it would be hard to pass. I think they should put labels on cans like they have on packs of cigs saying that soda has no nutritional value and that it is a major cause of obesity.
I believe that part one of the cruicial legislation that needs to happen is “forbidding companies to put lies in their commercials for food.” On the food tax note. I am against taxing vegetables and grains, but not adverse to taxing sodas AND OTHER CORN SYROP DRINKS.
I agree too, and so does Pointless Planet:
http://www.pointlessplanet.com/2009/11/aaft-camping.html