Well earlier this week, New York state governor (My governor) proposed a 15% tax on all sugar sodas. He says its a direct link to obesity, and will be a "Fat tax". Source I think its almost re-enacting the Boston Tea party, and that my governor is crazy. Most politicians say that it is a money grab. The American Beverage association says that Paterson is blaming obesity on soda's, and their must be a catch. Paterson says it will earn New York state an extra $404 million, and all go to "Health care initiatives". So, what do you think? Should we be taxed on it?
I have to say a tax on soda is ridiculous. Why would one blame obesity on soda? There are plenty of other fatty foods. Why not tax chips or candy? Why not tax cake and ice-cream? Why not tax fast food? Who is to say what obesity is directly linked to? Why not tax all food? Who is to decide what is bad? The idea of a tax is absolutely ludicrous.
Just like guns, the object does not make people fat but the person themselves. We have the choice to consume massive amounts of sugar or not. This is just ridiculous.
I think he's just angry that he can never see the vending machines, so since he can't get sodas, he wants to deprive everyone else of them also. (Hint: He's blind.)
Wait is he really blind or am I just dumb enough to fall for that? Anyway, that's just ridiculous. Governments have always found someway to take advantage of the people, and this is just stepping it up one more notch. Reminds me of the Stamp and Sugar Acts and all those other senseless acts the English Parliament placed on the colonies...
Yes very true. The beverage association feels the same way, and is angry for their product the ones to be held culprit, when there are many other high calorie foods. True. Lol, yeah. Hopefully this will be shot down, and not be put into effect. Though I love how first our governor gets caught for prostitution, now our next governor wants tax on sodas. New Yorks really making a name here.
If the government regulated how we eat, we would not be a democracy. And I bet that tax money would go to the government. Even though we do regulate the food in some cases, but in general no.
They're also trying to make us drink diet sodas. When its been discovered diet sodas lead to many more medical problems then regular sodas. Diabetes being on of them.
Totally dude, people going around ranting that they are fat because of the food is madness. They are fat because they can't put their fork down, and they should not ruin it for the rest of us.
Cigarette Tax How is this different from the cigarette tax already in place. If you are against this tax are you also against a cigarette tax?
Theres no risk to sodas, there is to cigarettes. People should be taxed on killing themselves. The tax makes it harder for the smokers to pay, and hopefully they quit.
In my opinion cigarettes should be completely illegal. Because they do nothing but hurt, don't combat me and say the same about sugar because without sugar life would not exist.
Maybe New Yorkers do it different than Ohioans, but on the streets of downtown Cleveland, when there is a homeless man or an extremely poor man asking for money, chances are they are going to buy alcohol or cigarettes, which most likely damaged their life in the first place. The reason there are taxes on cigarettes is because there is a product called Nicotine (which I hope you have heard of) that is a very addictive drug. This is present in cigarettes, not pop. Cigarettes have the great potential of ruining your life because of how addictive they are; pop, not so much.
Sugar Heart disease kills more Americans than lung cancer every year by a long shot. You guys do not know what you are talking about when you say sugar is harmless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NWUAYyPdag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPjktwQidgQ
I could also bring up that illegal aliens kill more Americans a day then American soldiers die in Iraq. Are you going to put a tax on being Illegal? That is a whole other subject. BTW what grade are you in? Because eventually in the years of studies you learn that biologically life is impossible without sugar, taxing sugar would kill people. Also that fact that mostly everything edible/drinkable has sugar in it. Not even close to say 20% of everything has nicotine in it. EDIT: OH BTW smoking causes lung/heart problems too, and you said heart disease kills, but you did not say the cause.
I think Soda should be taxed, especially if the revenue from it is going to those suffering of illness. Draw a parallel to measurement 50 in Oregon a year or two back wherein it imposed a tax on cigarettes and used the proceeds to benefit those suffering from Lung cancer and smoking related illness (and about 75% went to children with illness). This not only would (and I believe did) increase the public health by reducing the amount of smoking but it also aided children and recovering nicotine addicts.
You do know that heart disease is not cause by just sugar correct? Like Death said, cigarettes can cause heart problems as well as lung problems. You can have heredical hear problems. You can have heart problems from too much fat. That's like saying that more people die in the United States than people die from plane crashes in England.
I think people should be smart and stop worrying about the problems of other people. It's their choice to get fat, so let them. Who gives a flying ****.