Yes, I am an addict. Like countless millions of Americans, I am addicted to soft drinks. However I am not a big advocate of taxing anything that moves. Drinking too many drinks such as colas can wreck your health just as much as someone smoking tobacco. I understand the concern from the progressives when it comes to the societal cost of our addiction to soda. However we need to try different solutions aside from taxation as what Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus recently advocated for to help alleviate our national public health crisis.
We drink cola because it’s convenient, it has a great taste and it is well marketed since when we were children. We fail to realize the consequences of our choices when we choose the drinks we want to consume. There are externalities to drinking soda such as wrecking your teeth, kidneys, your weight and the potential to get diabetes.
Personally as a Republican I am not keen on taxation because many politicians have a thirst for funding as how we go to the convenience store to get the 64 ounce or greater beverage. First idea is education, scare the youth to help them make responsible choices. As what Cookie Monster proudly proclaims today, cookies are a sometimes food. The bottle of Coca-Cola needs to become a sometimes beverage. We need to dramatize the garbage we put in our bodies to help produce a message to our children which can also help with adults as well. 65g of sugar in a 20 ounce coke is not good. 50g is the maximum recommended if you have a 2000 calorie diet according to the World Health Organization and many things we consume today are already sweetened. Instead we could consider a beverage such as almond milk and consume 14g of sugar for a 16 ounce glass. Second idea is getting rid of farm subsidies in particular the subsidies on corn. If we make soda more expensive to produce then more people will choose to stay away from soda and other products made cheap due to subsidies. We are subsidizing the production of soda, but if we remove the subsidies there will be no need to tax soda because the people who normally consume the beverage will be priced out of it. Also high fructose corn syrup is worse than actual sugar and actually contributes to obesity. It’s sad when salads are more expensive than a double cheeseburger all thanks to subsidies that make the meat from the cow more affordable.
Soda should not be the sole evil from public health advocates. If people move away from soda, they will buy other beverages that are sugar laden. Orange juice is also a beverage that has 33 grams of sugar in a 12 ounce serving which comes close to Coca-Cola in sugar content. If we are going to be students of Michael Bloomberg, advocates would need to tax orange juice, blended drinks from Starbucks and fruit punch in addition to soda. We naturally crave sugar and it can lead to our downfall. However its individual liberty for people to choose what drinks we want to consume, but we have a paradox when people make the wrong choices and taxpayers having to pay for wrong choices.
I am not getting any younger and I am feeling the consequences of drinking soda where my body is wearing down from my prior choices. Just as much as a cigarette smoker quitting smoking, it will take the same dedication for me to change my refreshment choices. Perhaps it might also take drug stores to pull out soda and HFCS flavored beverages in their stores just as how CVS removed tobacco to strike a new movement.
Matthew Munson was the former candidate for Senate District 20 in 2014 and occasional contributor to the Juice.
The funny things is, we already have a US Soda Tax” on all sweetened things.
US sugar producers are ‘protected.” So in addition to large subsidies — many to sugar beet growers — there is also an import quota. Thus the domestic price of sugar is roughly twice that of the international price.
http://commodities.about.com/od/researchcommodities/a/The-Two-Sugar-Markets-Us-Sugar-And-World-Sugar.htm
If the US would allow a free market in sugar, sugar-rich foods would be even cheaper!
This suggests to me that a sugar Tax won’t have much effect on behavior, so addition to the being bad on principle, as Matt clearly lays out, the
“Soda Tax” is also probably bad policy.
What a free market in sugar would do is take a big bite out of the use of High-Fructose Corn Syrup — which would be a good thing.
agreed.
But don’t expect this to change while Iowa has a privileged position in choosing Presidents.
to quote chuck heston, you can have my sunkist orange soda when you pry it from my cold dead hands
*Dear Friends, Sodas are addictive. Ask any user. You start off, by going to Stater Bros. for the $1.99 a six pack and end up four years later bringing home two cases at a time from Costco. We are only going to say one thing: “Ingredients”. Look at what is your your “Deadly Cool Aid”. If you don’t know what the stuff is that they put in the soda…try using your Google and find out. Food? No Soy Lecithin, Soy Protein, Soy Oil or anything Soy. It is all GMO, containing pesticide….now up to 70%. Ah, but being the crazy extremists that we are……NO Canola oil…..(Singer Machine Oil – that is!) either. Why not? Hey, you can go to MacDonalds and eat the mythic Big Mac or go to Carl’s and have the great pre-cooked look alike “Mile High”. Fries, donuts and almost everything fried in Canola Oil. Too bad you guys weren’t around in the 60’s when you could get really toxic stuff like Toulene, Methyl Ethel Ketone and a dozen more which we used in the Aerospace and Auto industries with impunity. We used Asbestos and smoke three packs a day. Those were the days. You could get phony wine from Italy and the Central Coast of California. Apple Jack Wine? Ever had any? How about Red Mountain Vin Rose and Burgundy? Lightweights all. Well, they don’t make that stuff any more….figured they have killed enough folks under 40. Now, they are shooting for the long run addiction programs. Look at any drug you see on TV. You used to have to take the drug for three weeks and were cured. Now, once you are addicted….you are on it for life…..or until your life ends. OK, we have wasted our breath enough. Just don’t do any Diet anything. Nothing! You want Pepsi – drink Pepsi. You want Orange Soda…drink our soda. Do not drink Diet ever. Weight gain, Heart Attacks and general health Malaise. Well, that is what they say anyway……how would everyone know when the Big Pharma and Big Agra people guarantee that no one knows what goes in their drink or food or drugs, unless of course you are a CA Board Certified and Licensed Nutritionist.
I propose we make people get a doctors recommendation or prescription top use medical soda because it kills people causes diabetes, and has cafeine in it.
Soda pop is undoubtedly a gateway drug.
I’ve had pretty good luck with water.
Why would someone ruin perfectly good Diet Coke by removing the bubbles and caramel coloring…
Mr. Munson, Did you grow up in Anaheim?
*Yeah, we didn’t know that the Bean Hut was still up and running. They took away the Hillside in Fullerton….years ago. We still miss that yellow oil greasy buttered popcorn at the Fox Theatre in Fullerton. Soaked in oil and loving every drop on our fingertips.
Coffee and tea are much better for you than that crap in a can, taste better too. Be adult and drink what you want, when you want, but be responsible about it. Addictive my ass! You might be a habitual drinker, but that’s NOT the same, and like I said coffee and tea have the caffeine you might be addicted to with less sugar and good for you flavonoids too.
We agree that education, not taxes and regulation, is a more effective approach when it comes to enhancing American health. However, this applies to all calories we consume, as well as advocating physical activity to offset intake. Soda is simply not the culprit some claim. For example, contrary to the opinion expressed here, beverage consumption is not a unique risk factor for weight gain, diabetes, or kidney health. These are complex issues resulting from many diverse risk factors ranging from genetics to inactivity and overall diet. Rather, than “scare the youth to help them make responsible choices,” let’s focus on the positive message of balancing our overall diet with physical activity. Our industry is doing its part on this front – from clearly displaying calorie counts on all of our products to our recent launch of the Balance Calories Initiative, designed to reinforce this positive, holistic health message. – American Beverage Association
*Mumblelypeg! Five out of ten……not so good.! Ethnic diversity…..long term studies? Probably not viable …eh? Just close your eyes, open your mouth and they will give you a big surprise!
*How much do you guys give to the AMA and the NIH every year?
We limit our soda consumption and choose soda made in Mexico as they use real sugar. The high fructose corn syrup is the ingredient to avoid.