Would Taxing Soda Prevent Obesity?
September 22, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
Sugary snacks can quickly add on the pounds, but is that a reason to tax them? Proponents of adding tax to junk food say it could help offset the high cost of treating obesity-related diseases, while at the same time offering a boost to cash-poor states. It’s estimated that taxing each 12-ounce can of soda 3 cents would raise $50 billion over 10 years.
Earlier this year, the American Heart Association urged Americans to cut their sugar intake to help fight obesity.
Do you think a soda tax would help? Groups like Americans Against Food Taxes don’t think so. They argue that we need education, not taxation. Plus, the group believes that taxes like the soda tax would hurt the economy and struggling American families. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the group is backed by really huge names like Pepsi and McDonald’s.
Do you feel that we need taxes to help prevent obesity, or should the focus be on education?
(Image via stock.xchng)
It’s like you’re a mind reader. Dave and me were just talking about how to stop this obesity madness and we were thinking it comes down to money too. But I hadn’t thought of taxing soda. They should I think – and chips, and McDonalds, and all the other unhealthy junk too. Why not? They tax tobacco so why not tax icky foods too. The kids in schools now are fatter then ever even though schools keep pushing more study and less arts and recess, so obviously education is not helping. I say it’s an awesome idea. Sorry I’m just sick of seeing all these overweight kids around and no one doing anything about it. We are literally killing our kids. It’s terrible.
I don’t drink soda, but I don’t like taxes in general. Why not make healthy food cheaper instead of fattening food more expensive? That would benefit everyone instead of penalizing the poor. Maybe the poor eat fattening foods because they can’t afford the healthy stuff. You can get a whole hamburger for a dollar, but you can barely buy an avocado for a dollar and then you get it home and it’s bad. Plus a lot of poor people live in cities where the food is more expensive than in the suburbs. This is definitely going to hurt the less advantaged people because a tax increase isn’t going to matter to the rich.
I agree that education is going to help. Maybe they don’t know how to cook or are too tired after working all day to make a decent meal. I think we need to do some research on why people eat the way they do and what is the income for the majority of obese people. Does taxing cigarettes really impact whether or not people smoke?
Tiffany, you are correct about less healthy foods being more expensive in general. There have also been studies that link obesity to how close you live to a fast food restaurant. I think making fresh fruits and veggies more accessible to everyone should be a major goal. In recent years, the government has started to give out vouchers to lower income people to buy from local farmers at farmer’s markets. Programs like that help everyone and we need more of them.
That’s a good question about cigarette tax. I know some experts say the tax does lower smoking rates, but I’ll keep my eyes open for new studies on that question. I think independent studies are really all we can trust to answer that correctly. Some people might just switch to a cheaper brand…