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As Governor Paterson returns to Albany today to headline a symposium about a revived penny-per-ounce soda tax, he's picked up some more support from Mayor Bloomberg, who's always up for taxing vice. "In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by," said Bloomberg during his radio address yesterday. "But the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in the classrooms and clinics." Bloomberg had supported a tax on sugary soft drinks last year, but backed away after an "enormous outcry." Now, it seems, the time has come.
"What I think you’re seeing is really a momentum shift in favor of doing it," Dr. Richard F. Daines, the state health commissioner, tells the Times. According to Daines, the new tax "differs from the one proposed last year in that it would be levied directly on soda producers and the estimated $1 billion in annual revenue would be dedicated to the health care budget, rather than to the general fund." Bloomberg says tax revenue would also benefit education. According to experts, a 10 percent soda tax would cut consumption by 8 percent and make $14.9 billion for the state in its first year.
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A tax isn't going to stop people from drinking soda. It's just going to put more money in the state's pocket. I don't have a problem with the tax; I just think it's a little disingenuous to say it's going to change people's habits.
actually cost does play a factor when this sodas are cheaper than natural fruit juices. But Bloomberg is just a phony, his campaign staff were provided with free water, red bull and yet the volunteers were given coke, sprite and other unhealthy items.
It's shown to have made a big impact with regard to cigarettes. If it makes people use this crap less AND puts money into the state's coffers, it's win win.
Yeah, but the government's stance on cigarettes is kind of horrible.
If cigarettes are so deadly, and the government cares about our health so much, make them illegal or make it where Health Insurers can decline coverage to people who smoke. Charging more just says "we don't care if you live or die, we just want some more money."
Same thing with this soda tax. As it stands now, soda is still half of the price of orange juice and about even with the price of water (which should be free, but that's another matter.) This tax on sugary soda won't make orange juice or water any more of a bargain, so essentially, this just becomes a money grab.
The other thing I wonder about these "nuisance" taxes is: if these politicians got their way, everyone would stop smoking cigarettes and stop drinking sugar filled soda.... and their tax revenue would dry up. The only way these taxes help is if the public DOESN'T stop buying these products.
If everyone stopped smoking and drinking soda the money saved on government-provided health care would far outweight the loss of tax revenue.
This is not to change people's habits. that's the lie they want you to believe. The real reason is that the state is almost bankrupt and they need revenues from whatever stream they can get it. Taxing and increasingly popular food item is a step that makes people think government is working on their behalf.
i guess i don't understand why we subsidize corn farmers so that soda can be produced and sold inexpensively,
and then we turn around and tax soda because it is unhealthy.
the answer: politics. no logic required
The corn lobby is massive and powerful. Why do you think corn-based ethanol gets produced even though it has negative energy balance?
this drivel is so funny
"But the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in the classrooms and clinics."
haha. and they're doing it for the kids too right? if they cared about HEALTH they would be taxing calories. they dont. they will tax diet soda, green tea, seltzer, everything. all you morons who support this...well there I said enough
oh baby tax me! yeah that's right tax me good!! oooohh!
Don't make me tax you hard! It's gonna get messy ;)
If you want to tax sugar tax sugar. If you want to tax HFC syrup tax that as well. Hell you can even tax the amount of CO2 in drinks.
Picking out specific formulations of complex products for taxation as a means to control (and profit though) individual habits is hazardous, overtly complicated and will lead to companies making "juice" more like soda but not enough like soda to be taxed as soda. It will also lead to more convoluted and contrived legislation based solely on what is popular at the time... just like cabaret laws and pinball machine bans.
This is a prime example of stupid legislation. I can't wait to read the definition of "soda." If you want to tax sugar tax all sugar, tax all salt, tax all corn syrup.
What about sodas that don't use HFCS like GuS soda and Izze? Should they be taxed the same? And shouldn't Snapple and other drinks be taxed like "VitaminWater" (that actually has 0 vitamins)?
Why don't they just ban high frutose corn syrup like they did trans fat? That's the main killer ingredient in these drinks.
Agreed.
Word.
answer: The Corn Refiners Association
Yeah, because consuming an equivalent amount of sugar is so much less bad for you.
Actually, it is. Fructose induces far more glycation in the human body than sucrose does, and glycation is one of the major components of the aging process. It's not just a matter of calories. And HFCS doesn't just provide a little more fructose, it's a lot more fructose.
The Corn lobby in this country is way to strong to do that.
All in all, High Fructose Corn Syrup isn't necessarily bad for you. What IS bad for you is the absolutely retarded amounts of it a typical human being can intake in an average day. We're literally drowning in sugar.
An average can of soda has 50 grams of the stuff. Most people do not have the pancreas or the metabolism to deal with that much sugar.
This tax is nothing but a sugar rush for those scoundrels in Albany.
Lowering taxes? LOL.
Dammit, replied to the wrong person.
Here's one soda drinker that doesn't mind crossing the Hudson into New Jersey if it's cheaper. I would buy in New Jersey just to spite Bloomberg. I would also order over the internet just to spite Bloomberg.
Legalize marijuana!
hell yea! Weed Power!
"the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives."
If New Yorker City dwellers were so concerned about saving their lives over nickle dime shit like drinking soda, they would move out of the city and at the same time save money.
Between the tax on soda, the bottle/can deposit, and cheaper gas, it may be worth it to pay the toll and head to Wegman's to do my grocery shopping.
It's cynical not to think the tax is just another way to line the pockets of politicians and bring even more corruption to the state.
The state and our federal government is never happy with the income they received. It's always the saying "no money". We need more taxes, more revenue.
If a penny an ounce is going to save lives, improve well being, reduce healthcare costs, and bring peace on earth, why not tax those evil non-diet soda drinkers even more?
Please raise my taxes
Til I can't afford to eat
Then I will be thin
They've got this whole think turned around. They should offer subsidies for using Brooklyn lard to power the MTA and water taxis.
Why stop at soda? How about lowering the taxes on anything healthy?
As much as I think soda water I'm not for any legislation, ESPECIALLY taxes, that remove or restrict our freedom.
That's a cop out. At some point you need boundries to keep the fat people from eating all the rations.
So then you're pretty much not for any legislation? Go join the tea party in Somalia...
Right, because that's the only other alternative.
Why don't you go suck off a Senator?
Now that's freedom, bro!
If this tax is the panacea to all of our health care woes and the tax is about stopping unhealthy activity, why stop with soda? Unprotected sex can be an unsafe activity, just like soda consumption. STDs cost billions of dollars a year in medical care. How about we tax those who engage in the risky behavior?
What about lactose intolerance? I'm sure it amounts to millions in health care costs a year. Blacks and Asians are predisposed to losing the enzymes need to break down lactase. So how about we put a tax in Bed-Stuy and Queens' bodegas on ice cream, cheese, yogurt and milk since these can be a burdensome cost and can possibly be detriment to one's gastrointestinal system.
Eating fried food has absolutely no nutrition value. How about levying a FF tax? I'm sure the Chinese-Americans who love having their humble businesses saddled with a tax on their General Gao's? Or the African-American Palace fried chickens.
It's so absurd. If you believe the garbage the Albany supporters are spouting, I just want to ask: Why the hell do you think it's for anything other than filling in budget gaps?
If I was a dictator, I could levy a tax on pencils and pens and use creative accounting to claim that I'm saving millions by reducing the hours of a pencil plant being open and thus creating less emissions and negative externalities on the environment. I mean, you would really eat this up?
+1
From 'Thank You For Smoking':
"The number 1 killer in America is cholesterol, and here comes Senator Finisterre who's clogging the nation's arteries with Vermont cheddar cheese."
Ice cream is taxed. And surely you must be joking. People who are lactose intolerant don't cost us anything. They're just gassy, and only if they eat dairy.
Of course I was picking frivolous examples. But back in the '70s when your parents drank a soda every now and then, and their generation didn't look like blimps...could John Doe from 1972 ever envision a soda tax?
taxing anything that is not necessary, such as those things thought of as "sin" taxes, is a great idea. we have to pay for all of the preemption that we indulge in, as well as the very expensive bombs that go along with that. everyone wants health care. and our roads and bridges need help. all things that are not essentials should be open to taxes. the problem with a majority of folks is that they want obama to fix everything, as long as they personally don't have to pay for it. i drink, and i don't mind paying extra for wine to pay for health care, for example. soda is completely nonessential, so if people want it really badly, then throwing in a few cents to cover what this country needs is a great solution. all anti-tax people are one big reason why little gets accomplished. i also go to the movies, which i don't need to do. i am perfectly willing to throw in another buck (it's already exorbitant) to fund ailing schools.
If you're so willing to part with your money I'm sure the state will accept.
Just leave the rest of us out of it.
The state has no business levying additional taxes on products like soda.
accept a donation that is.
I think inyourider should pave his own roads, fill his own potholes, let his internet company charge whatever they want with no regulation even if he can't afford to log in Gothamist, pick through his food and pull out the impurities that go with slack regulation, dig his own well, put out any fire that starts in his house, fight his own crime, let cars spew as much pollution in his face as they want and then pay for his own lung cancer surgery or asthma treatment and negotiate his own deal with foreign nations for the minerals he needs in his cell phone. Because I don't want to subsidize this fool.
Right because we need the money to get all those things done.
Its not as if we pay income tax or sales tax already is it?
Your tangent on regulation is completely irrelevant.
Unless you believe that the revenue generated by this proposed tax would directly fund the state soda inspectors.
Really? The state has no business taxing soda? They've been taxing my tampons all my life, and those are a lot more necessary that soda.
Soda has always been taxed. Soda is taxed now, so comparing it to tampons makes no sense. They are talking about a "soda tax" which would be in addition to the almost 9% plus bottle deposit....
then keep things as they are and no one should complain that things are broken and don't get done, including health care. taxes are a great way to get otherwise tight people to contribute to the system. if you absolutely HAVE to have the ribs of that pig, then you should be taxed. and this will help those who cannot make wise choices to think twice about their bad behaviors.
Who the F is complaining about things being broken. How about getting rid of 50% of the idiots on the state payroll and leaving the residents of NYS alone... oh no, we can't do that. Lets just chase more people with brains out of the state and leave on the few idiots who cant leave or people getting a paycheck or handout from the state... at least until things go bust.
As all the smokers point, laugh, and say "I told you so."
Between chemo sessions.
what a waste of time. i personally love paying a cigarette tax. it has me smoking less, and if i have to do such an idiotic thing, then i might as well be paying for other, worthwhile things while i am at it.
I say add a tax on annoying self-righteous people who don't want to spend their own time and money helping others but are willing to take money from the rest of us to pay for their struggle to run other people's lives.
First they came for the cigarettes. And I did not speak out as people breathed easier.
Then they came for the calories. And I did not speak out as people slimmed down.
Then they came for the salt. And I did not speak out as people's blood pressure returned to normal.
Then they came for my soda. And there was nobody left who gave a shit about my whining.
This tax is a scam. Just like every other "vice" tax. Its just smoke and mirrors, they dont care about anyones health, they just want the money. I enjoy sugary sodas, it drink MANY of them a day, have for years and years. I'm actually about 40 pounds UNDERWIGHT, why should I have to pay this tax? Instead, they want my to drink the soda that tastes like ass, and causes CANCER... Awesome...
40 pounds underweight, you should eat some food. Lots of people have smoked for years and aren't sick. So cigarettes are not unhealthy? People can still drink soda if they want to. No one is taking away something you need. Jeez.
The point is that the sugar is soda makes you gain weight. This is NOT the case with me. Also, Why should I have to pay more, or choose an other (less healthy, and cancer causing) option, when this one works well for me. I like sugar. It's natural. My point is STOP TAXING EVERYONE TO DEATH!
Big deal. So don't buy soda. It's cheaper and healthier to buy drink mixes like Crystal Light anyway. Soda isn't a necessity. It's not like they're taxing something people cannot live without.