In highlighting a new study which found $147 billion a year is spent on obesity-related health care and obese people spend $1,400 more a year for health services, ABC and CBS on Monday night couldn't resist interjecting a plug for imposing a tax on soda to bring in revenue to pay for ObamaCare.
ABC's Sharyn Alfonsi asserted “health officials seem to like the idea of a federal soda tax” since “adding a tax of three cents a can to high-calorie sodas could generate $24 billion over the next four years,” and while “opponents argue Americans won't tolerate another tax,” supporters “say it could cut health care costs and America's ever- expanding bottom line, all at once.”
Following a full CBS Evening News story on the obesity report, anchor Katie Couric set up a story on the tax idea: “Now, some believe another way to help pay for health care reform is to put a tax on one of the causes of obesity: soft drinks full of sugar. Nancy Cordes has more on that.” Cordes began: “Americans consume roughly 250 more calories everyday than they did in the '70s and half those calories come from sugary drinks, which is why some health advocates are urging Congress to help pay for health care reform with a tax on non-diet sodas...”
NBC Nightly News managed to run a full story on the obesity report without mentioning putting a tax on soda.
Of course, if the tax did lead to less soda consumption, tax revenue to pay for ObamaCare would fall
From the end of Alfonsi's July 27 World News story on the obesity study:
....Health officials seem to like the idea of a federal soda tax. They say we consume about 250 more calories a day than we did just 20 years ago and most of those calories are from the soda can. Adding a tax of three cents a can to high-calorie sodas could generate $24 billion over the next four years. Opponents argue Americans won't tolerate another tax. Still, supporters say it could cut health care costs and America's ever- expanding bottom line, all at once. Sharyn Alfonsi, ABC News, New York.
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Coke adds life?
July 27, 2009 - 23:30 ET by nkviking75Soda has been with us about a century. A person born in 1900 could expect to live 49.24 years (see page 30 of the PDF file), approximately 30 years less than the current life expectancy. Perhaps we should require people to drink soda.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
The cause that represses ...
July 28, 2009 - 00:46 ET by metaphorsbwithuThey're missing an opportunity.
Sodas are also loaded with CO2. Add another three cents a can and we can save all the polar bears and maybe the who planet from man-made global whining.
On the other hand:
http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/8/894/INTJ000Z/coca-cola-french-polar-bear.jpg
metaphorsbwithu
buzz off
July 28, 2009 - 01:21 ET by konoThe nanny state can KMA.
And if they want to tax that, too, they can SMD, as well.
And why stop with soda?
July 28, 2009 - 18:59 ET by winston smithAnd why stop with soda? From there Obama can target, let's see....Big Twinkie, Big Potato Chip, Big Cake, Big Chocolate Bar, Big Popcicle, Big Pizza, Big Ice Cream, Big Cheesy Fries, Big Corn Dog, YEEEHAAWWW!
Not one dime of this 3% tax will reduce obesity
July 28, 2009 - 01:23 ET by Scout FinchOnce the government gets it's greedy grubby hands on it, it will do whatever it wants to do with. It will go into the general fund.
As far as soda (I'm from Detroit--we call it pop) being linked to obesity, it may be because some people with no self-control consume 7 or 8 bottles of pop a day. Try a cold glass of ice water every once in while.
*
July 28, 2009 - 14:16 ET by R D Helm*
It's not just sodas: Dems
July 28, 2009 - 02:03 ET by ckc1227It's not just sodas:
Dems Eye Botox Tax
Speaking of cosmetic surgery, we probably use more of it in this country than any other. I wonder how much elective cosmetic procedures account for that so-called extra $6,000 we spend per person in this country(as if that allegation means anything anyway)?
Don't worry, it'll never pass the House
July 28, 2009 - 07:58 ET by lsudolemitesince it would bankrupt Nancy Pelosi inside of a year.
Re Cosmetic Surgery
July 28, 2009 - 10:05 ET by slickwillie2001That may be the final straw that turn the liberal old media against the Bamster's government health care plans.
3
July 28, 2009 - 05:23 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsA 3 cent tax on 'high calorie sodas' will morph into a 3 cent tax on every single canned and bottled beverage out there. Think your can of Coke Zero, with nary a calorie, will be exempt? Wrongo! Soda, beer, unsweetened iced tea, they will all get hit with this. And the left will claim another 'victory' while, of course, American consumers lose.
D
Write Congress and Senate and tell them what YOU think!
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Add water to the list
July 28, 2009 - 06:04 ET by SickofLibsAdd water to the list.
Water and Tea that is...
July 28, 2009 - 06:13 ET by VT Con ManTime for more tea parties. These tax fiends are out of control, and need to be put back in the bottle.
This all sounds familiar...
July 28, 2009 - 06:20 ET by Jcon96There was a scene in the movie Demolition Man where Sandra Bullock is explaining to Sylvester Stallone all the thing that have been made illegal because they are bad for you...
I remember laughing at that when the movie came out...now it looks like our government wants to make it a reality. (through taxation)
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
George S. Patton
I don't get it. Taxing us to
July 28, 2009 - 06:36 ET by Gideon717I don't get it. Taxing us to stop our behavior but still expecting to raise the same amount of money when our behaviors change? Or will they have to raise a different tax to make up for the "lost revenue"?
You're mistaken.
July 28, 2009 - 11:30 ET by b4m4wyYou understand it more than the lefties want anybody to. They will be taxing everything. When gas went sky-high, everyone started cutting back and the states lost millions in tax income. Gas prices came down again, wonder how that happened? Did the US stop buying? How much oil do we get from the Saudi's, 3% maybe? It's all controlled by the politicians and who's in their pockets at the time.
Anyway, who drinks soda? The middle class, oops, there's a tax increase on the middle class.
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan
More LiberalThink
July 28, 2009 - 07:30 ET by AJBThese rocket-scientists on the left.... there is absolutely NO thought given to consequences of increasing taxes. What happens, collective genius of the left, when your tax changes behavior and consumption falls precipitously? Then, where will their money for Obamacare come from? Will they legislate that everyone HAS to consume at least 100 cans of soda per year? Are they stupid enoug to think people won't change their behavior?
This same thing happened with tobacco. They kept raising taxes, but couldn't figure out why their tax revenue dropped. Hey, idiots! Taxes disincent behavior.
I, for one, will NEVER EVER pay one cent in taxes on this money grab. I'm sure you can buy you soda from Canada over the internet :-)
You just don't understand liberal logic...
July 28, 2009 - 11:09 ET by UltraCNeither can I, can't get my head up my a**! When gas prices spiked above $3 in the summer of '07, the Minnesota DFLers proposed a gas tax to discourage driving and encourage more fuel-efficient behavior, while simultaneously counting on the additional revenue to fund road infrastructure. When the I-35W bridge collapsed over the Mississippi, the DFLers and their pinko communist-- er, columnist-- allies at the the local socialist rag maintained the bridge would not have collapsed had the gas tax increase been signed into law by the governor 2 months prior, never mind the collapse was 40 years in the making.
Gas, tobacco, soda: Liberals always trying the same thing (raising taxes) and expecting different results. Textbook definition of insanity.
There is not enough $$ to pay for the democrats
July 28, 2009 - 07:47 ET by c5thenBetween the $700 billion stimulus bill, the ?? billion TARP program the $3 trillion federal budget, the $11 trillion federal deficit...Now they are proposing a 1.5 trillion health insurance fiasco like medicare only bigger.
Frankly, $24 billion is a rounding error.
Throw 'da bums out!
no one re-elected who voted for socialism or debt
www.loyaltoliberty.com
Folks this is only a glimpse of things to come
July 28, 2009 - 07:54 ET by lsudolemiteif we get Obamacare. Anything and everything can be taxed and regulated under the justification of improving the "public health" by unelected bureaucrats.
does it matter what you eat? as you turn into the "golden years"
July 28, 2009 - 08:03 ET by JIMMY1660our fine President will euthanize you.these are the men and women who built this country and now he wants to kill them off. Great policy.
Government run anything has never worked. You want to control health care costs-TORT REFORM!!!!
BHO- THE PROGRESSIVE PIRATE
does it matter what you eat? as you turn into the "golden years"
July 28, 2009 - 08:04 ET by JIMMY1660our fine President will euthanize you.these are the men and women who built this country and now he wants to kill them off. Great policy.
Government run anything has never worked. You want to control health care costs-TORT REFORM!!!!
BHO- THE PROGRESSIVE PIRATE
"Fat" pop
July 28, 2009 - 09:27 ET by keeper23"Never sniff a gift fish"
"health advocates are urging Congress to help pay for health care reform with a tax on non-diet sodas...”
Thats funny to me since i've rarely seen an obese person drinking regular soda, always "diet soda".
"I'll have a Big Mac, fry, Quarter pounder...SUPERSIZED!! with a diet coke".....
Fools
July 28, 2009 - 10:02 ET by PoolPlayerI love how they project revenue by taking the new tax rate times the current demand. They never quite figure out that their tax increase affects demand - I guess because they are socialists at heart. A good example: Maryland put a sur-tax on incomes over 1 million dollars - they actually lost revenue because many took their million+ elsewhere. Not only did they not get the sur-tax, they lost the normal rate on the 1st million.
What maroons - Bugs Bunny
I'm not worried about
July 28, 2009 - 11:44 ET by MidAmericaI'm not worried about this tax becoming enacted and here's why....
Re soda tax
July 28, 2009 - 12:00 ET by slickwillie2001The Bamster has an easy out on that, they will say that the soda tax is not a tax on individuals, but is a tax on behavior. Wait for it.
here's the sequence
July 28, 2009 - 13:02 ET by grumpyoldbFirst they came for the smokers, and I did nothing because I did not smoke.
Then they came for the fatties, and I did nothing because I was not fat.
Now they are coming for me, and there is no-one to help....
Get the picture???? No matter who you are, your time is coming....
What happens to the job
July 28, 2009 - 14:06 ET by eaglewingz08What happens to the job losses to soda factory workers if the taxes causes layoffs? We on the right saw the villification of the cigarette industry and predicted fifteen years ago that if the anti cigarette liberals were successful in ostracizing lawful cigarette smokers then the food industry would be next and particularly fast foods and sugar, under the guise of 'health' for 'obese' Americans and/or controlling 'health care' costs. The food police are in full swing under Fidel Hussein Obama's Administration and Chairwoman Nancy the Red Peelousy.
July 28, 2009 - 14:04 ET by jessieHLet them raise taxes on sodas. I'll buy stock in tea & sugar.....................................All this will do is stop another company from making a profit. Or better yet, let's have a D.C. soda party! Instead of tea, we'll use soda. And instead of dumping it, We'll throw cans at the idiots in office in D.C..
Jessie~
July 28, 2009 - 14:34 ET by Georgia GirlI guess I'm a rebel at heart because that is my way of thinking as well. I only took a few econ classes in college, but even I have given thought to the possibility of Americans drinking much less soda. What a mess that would be. I love my Diet Cherry Coke, but if this happens, I won't drink soda at all. I'm that stubborn. I also will only buy Ford at this point. The sad part is how this affects those working in the industries. So soda companies -- like the automobile industry -- would be crushed by Obama (visual gift: crushed soda can/totaled car).
Unfortunately, Americans have to be able to take a stand on these policies, and sometimes there is no other way.
water+sugar+yeast = pop
July 28, 2009 - 14:26 ET by ScadsobeesIt really isn't that hard to make.
It also means that vending machine pop will go up .05, since nobody has exact penny change anymore.
Tax whatever is out of popularity but everybody uses.
Unless they plan on taxing all the ingredients for these things too, nothing is too hard to make.
water+sugar+yeast=pop
July 28, 2009 - 17:47 ET by Georgia GirlWhen you put it that way, maybe it's best I give up pop anyway. LOL. But I need my caffeine fix. I can make my own iced mochas! Yeah, doesn't that sound much healthier? ;)
I think there's a post under this that mentions taxing water. Frickin' unbelievable. How about the air we breathe? Is that free?
For that matter, are we free? Can we make our own choices without being punished for it? I have to keep reminding myself we live in America.
....Which is getting harder
July 28, 2009 - 18:06 ET by bigtimer....Which is getting harder to do each day when you listen to congress-critters along with the SRM for the daily push for their agenda, whatever it may be.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Water tax
July 28, 2009 - 15:20 ET by seventhere is a water tax already in the pipeline
It include charmin and related products.
H.R 3202
So their "solution" amounts
July 28, 2009 - 16:13 ET by fitzfongSo their "solution" amounts to taxing something that I want to subsidize something I don't want...on "my behalf". I hate the parasite class that the community organizer scumbag continues to empower. They can have my Coke when they pry the empty can from my cold, dead hand.
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best
Did It Ever Occur To You How Addictive Soda Is?
July 28, 2009 - 23:44 ET by The7SticksI should know because I am in the process of kicking the habit of drinking Diet Pepsi. It's not as easy as you think. First I have to wean myself off the diet stuff by drinking Sierra Mist, which as bad as it can be is not nearly as damaging as Diet drinks (Did you know diet colas can kill brain cells? I've kind of felt myself dumbing down like Charley from Flowers for Algernon ever since my diet cola bingeing. I was going to say bender but I actually had trouble remebering the word for a moment.)
Generally, it's not a good idea to raise taxes on anything. However, since we highly tax vices like porn, cigarettes and alcohol, I don't see any problem putting a higher tax on something like diet cola. I've seen the effects it had on me, and I don't want to live that way anymore. I don't want to suffer the same fate my mother succumbed to from years of crack cocaine abuse.