Can Taxes Help Improve Obesity Rates?
December 30th, 2008
New York state governor David Patterson wants to place an obesity tax on non-diet soft drinks and fruit drinks (only those less than 70% real fruit juice). The problem really is one of money for New York state and not obesity, which in lies the issue. Patterson is simply looking to make up the state’s budget short fall. As always, this type of tax will hurt the poor the most. Some will argue that the monetary pain will be enough to convince many state residents, mainly the poor ones, not to purchase these ‘empty calories.’ However, it provides no guarantee that these calories will not be replaced with other cheap empty calorie options. Let’s tackle obesity rates, but let’s do it in the right way.
