Current Event #2

The New York Times article, "Plan to Tax Soda Gets a Mixed Reception," covers the responses from Richmond, California residents to the state's proposed soda tax.  The tax proposes to put a one-cent per ounce tax on soda and other sugar sweetened drinks.  While may of the people interviewed has issues with diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure problems, and other ailments,  many still did not see the necessity of the soda tax and did not like what it said.  This tax is likely to most impact the impoverished because money is tight and unhealthy foods are often the cheapest.  Soda on average is significantly less expensive to buy than even water.  The article sited other startling stats like that two-thirds of teenagers drink an average of 1.8 sugar-sweetened drinks a day. The calories from soda also add up in the long term with the math of a soda having around 240 calories, this equates to around 150,000 extra calories which could cause 20 pounds of weight gain in one year alone.  The soda tax also raises issues on what else could be taxed in the near future like pastries and other unhealthy choices. If the tax is not enough to deter people from drinking soda, the money will at least help California to fund more public projects.

The topic of taxing certain food items in an attempt to limit the growing health crisis in the US has been coming up frequently, and this article caught my eye.  It was well written, as all New York Times articles are.  It was a fairly interesting article and I thought the perspectives of people in opposition to the tax were interesting.  I don't particularly like soda and rarely drink it, so it doesn't seem like a big deal to me, but for some people it is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/us/richmond-calif-seeks-to-tax-sweetened-beverages.html?ref=health