Income tax, property tax, soda tax? A Connecticut lawmaker has proposed a soda tax to curb increasing diabetes and obesity rates.
Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) has proposed the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax Act (SWEET) that would impose a one cent tax for every teaspoon of sugar in a drink with the exception of milk and 100 percent fruit juices.
She, however, understands that realistically the bill won't get passed. In fact, she doesn't even expect the bill to come to a vote, but she hopes to bring the issue to Washington and to the attention of national lawmakers, hoping that this may set off taxes at local levels.
"We have a serious health problem," DeLauro said to Reuters. "It is in part related to the consumption of sugar and added sugars and sugary beverages. Therefore we need to move to do something to avert this crisis."
This comes about a month after New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's efforts to limit soda sizes was struck down by New York's highest court. Several other states and cities have tried to impose soda taxes, but the legislation has consistently been shut down.
Berkeley and San Francisco will both put to the vote a soda tax that would impose a tax of 1 cent and 2 cent per ounce, respectively, on sugary drinks.
According to the American Diabetes Association, 8.3 percent of the population has diabetes. This translates to about 26 million Americans. On top of that, about 35 percent of the adult population, 79 million people, have prediabetes.
The bill gets at the biggest enemy in many health-related issues - sugar. By taxing the amount of sugar directly in the drink, people are encouraged to consume drinks that contain less or no sugar.
There is also evidence that a soda tax may help limit consumption of sugary drinks. At the beginning of this year, Mexico imposed a peso-per-liter tax on soda which led to decreased sales of sugary drinks.
"There is a clear relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and a host of other heart conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, obesity and tooth decay," DeLauro said. "We are at a crucial tipping point and the SWEET Act will help correct the path we are currently on."
The revenue from the tax would go towards promoting health through decreasing health-related diseases such as obesity.
According to the American Beverage Association (ABA), however, taxes won't help keep people healthy.
"No matter how you look at it, soda taxes mean fewer jobs," read the statement from the ABA. "Americans have made it clear they don't support taxes and other restrictions on common grocery items, like soft drinks. Soda taxes have unintended consequences on middle-class jobs and small businesses. For these and other reasons, tax proposals continue to fail wherever they are introduced."
It went on to say that the only way to combat obesity and diabetes is for everyone to work together to find real solutions to the battle.
