Taxing Soda or for the Midwest Folks, Pop

In order to raise $400 million to fill a budget hole, New York's Gov. David Paterson is proposing an 18% sales tax on sodas. I don't drink sodas so I really don't have a dog in this fight, nonetheless I think it's a brilliant idea.

Nicholas Kristof, one of my favorite NYT columnists, wrote a column about it last week. The entire columns is worth a read but here are few excerpts...

In effect, the most promising cure for lung cancer didn’t emerge from a medical research lab but from money-grubbing politicians. Likewise, the best cure for obesity may turn out to be not a pill but a tax.

These days, sugary drinks are to American health roughly what tobacco was a generation ago. A tax would shift some consumers, especially kids, to diet drinks or water. “Soft drinks are linked to diabetes and obesity in the way that tobacco is to lung cancer,” says Barry Popkin, a nutrition specialist at the University of North Carolina.

One priority must be a public health campaign to change social behavior. A starting point is to recognize that risky teen behavior these days can involve not just alcohol, drugs or sex but also extra-large Cokes.