As we ponder a move towards a public health care plan, inevitably we must face the prospect of taxing those products that make us sick. From the food we eat, to the pollution we breathe, to the toxins in our water supply, our health care costs cannot come down until we address these issues.
One policy that has been raised numerous times is the idea of taxing soda; pop; or whatever you call it in your part of the world. Essentially, soda is sugar water with little to no nutritional value. Hence, the idea of even a small excise tax should create little controversy.
However, you rarely hear it mentioned in the press. Why is that? Could it be the food and beverage industry has deep pockets? After all, Coca-Cola and its estimated 92,000 employees raked in over $31 billion in revenues in 2008 from their many products. PepsiCo, Inc. employs nearly 200,000 people and raked in over $43 billion in 2008 from their many products.
Those are some big pockets!
With Barack Obama’s bold step to dramatically increase federal taxes on cigarettes by 62 cents; why are the proposals to create a 1 penny excise tax on soda so controversial? The answer is simple. The food and beverage industry does not want to admit that their product is harmful. They will lobby hard, spending tens of millions of dollars to protect against a small little tax that is obviously good policy, just to keep from looking bad.
Sound familiar? The tobacco industry did the exact same thing for years.
This issue is the front line of the health care debate yet is pretty much ignored. After all, the press will lose valuable advertising revenue if they produce reports supportive of the tax; thus directly linking soda to poor diet. However, how can we pay for health care if we consume products that have little to no nutritional value?
I think it is time for the Democrats to show some backbone and start going after soda. Otherwise, they will not only fail to convince the American people they are serious about passing legislation to improve public health; they will simultaneously fail to improve public health.
Please call or write your Congressperson and demand they fight for at least a small excise tax on this nearly worthless consumer product. Oh, and of course support a subsidy on organic food!