Monday, December 15, 2008

A Fat Tax

New York Governor David Paterson wants to pass an "obesity tax" on sweetened soft drinks to help close the state's $15 billion budget gap, The Daily News reports. Diet drinks would be exempt, so a Diet Coke could end up costing 15 cents less than a regular Coke. Milk and bottled water would also be exempt.- New York Times

Soda drinkers are probably going to hate me but I think this is a great idea. I think it should be extended to candy bars as well. There are addtional taxes on alchol and cigarettes because they have been proven to be bad for us. Especially when consumed in excess. The same is true for sugar. So why not add an extra taxes to these sweet treats? Hopefully it would help people to think more about consuming them in moderation, the same way raising the price of cigarettes helped some people quit.

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