NY State's proposed soda tax is fair. Stop kvetching.
According to this article, NY State spends $7.6 billion a year to treat diseases caused by obesity. A 1-cent tax per ounce of sugary drinks is estimated to bring $1 billion to the state. This essentially says that the state believes that sugary drinks are responsible for about 13% of the obesity problem – I think they are responsible for much more than that – and should then pay for about 13% of the bill.
The only thing wrong with the tax is the way some people are trying to sell it. Any piece of communication that states that the intention of the bill is to curb consumption of sugary drinks and make people healthier simply deceitful. The purpose of the tax is not to force people to be healthier but to make sure that the bill to be paid by the people responsible for it. People still have the right to be as fat/unhealthy as they want, they just need to pay for the cost that these decisions represent. What is wrong with that?
