Soda Tax Debate

A paper released in the New England Journal of Medicine last week argues that soda and other sugary drinks should be taxed just like cigarettes and alcohol. The proposed national tax would affect regular soda, sports drinks, juices, and iced teas, but not diet soda. The paper’s research team, made up of doctors, scientists, and policy makers, said this tax could curb obesity and generate income for health care reform—a tax of one percent per ounce could generate $14.9 billion in its first year. Beverage companies are outraged by this idea, claiming that such a measure unfairly targets their products and does not adequately address the country’s obesity epidemic, with one Coca-Cola executive likening such a tax to the policies of the Soviet Union.