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December 17, 2008
Paterson's Soda Tax Makes No Sense
Posted by Dave Blount at December 17, 2008 6:59 AM
New York's second-string governor has followed the lead of Mayor Mike by using nanny state totalitarianism to increase government revenue, slapping a 15% "obesity tax" on nondiet soft drinks. But…
There's just one problem: Studies have found links between drinking diet sodas and obesity and diabetes.
A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and separate studies released in 2007 at the University of Alberta in Canada and the University of Massachusetts found that diet soda drinkers were more likely than regular soda drinkers to be obese.
Also, several studies by U.S. and European researchers have tied the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet), which is used to sweeten many diet sodas, to cancer, headaches and organ damage…
No doubt Governor Paterson will correct the problem by levying an even higher tax on diet soda. He'll want to raise taxes on fruit juice too, since it has just as many calories as soda.
A tax on plain water might be a good idea also; if you drink enough, it will kill you. Just as Mary Jo Kopechne.
On tips from Eoin and Matt L.
