Soda Tax Response

New York governor David Paterson included a proposal soda tax in his budget plan last year and it was rejected. However, he brought up the soda tax proposal again this year on January, 2010. The state of New York will have to pay one more penny per once on soda and other sweetened beverages. He says that the tax is necessary to fight obesity, especially on children. According to studies, this will help reduce soda consumption by 15% and will help raise around $24 billion in four years to help health reforms.

Although this soda tax proposal doesn't sound like a bad idea, it would not make much of a difference on soda consumption but will certainly increase the governments budget. Americans should be free to make their own decisions on what they want to eat, whether its healthy. It’s not the government’s responsibility to try and fix our diet. "Taxes are not going to teach our children how to have a healthy lifestyle," said Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association. This in fact is true, taxes are not going to make people healthy just because soda will cost a couple of cents more. States that are already paying such tax also show high obesity rates so taxing soda is simply another way of raising revenue. The government knows this tax wouldn't stop people from consuming soda and this is the reason why they insist it goes through. As long as they have their money, that's all it matters. If the government cared so much about our children’s health, why only tax soda if it's not the only product in the market causing obesity?. Taxing soda is not going to reduce obesity, it will only increase consumption of other high calorie drinks.