Comments on: The Plan To Tax Soda Products — Good Or Bad? http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/ Practical Tips For Living Fit And Enjoying Life Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:22:26 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Greg http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-556 Greg Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:38:40 +0000 http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/#comment-556 My brother and I had a discussion about this one time. I would contend that one of the government's best tool for modifying people's behavior is the tax system. That's one reason home ownership is so high in our country. Take Canada or Europe. Citizen's in those countries don't get a tax break for home ownership, and the rate of home ownership is much lower... My brother and I had a discussion about this one time. I would contend that one of the government’s best tool for modifying people’s behavior is the tax system. That’s one reason home ownership is so high in our country. Take Canada or Europe. Citizen’s in those countries don’t get a tax break for home ownership, and the rate of home ownership is much lower…

]]> By: John http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-530 John Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:18:32 +0000 http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/#comment-530 It's an interesting debate - where does government step in to use a "tax" to reduce consumption of a product that may be considered unhealthy versus looking at trying to change the fundamental behavior that leads to the problem in the first place? It’s an interesting debate – where does government step in to use a “tax” to reduce consumption of a product that may be considered unhealthy versus looking at trying to change the fundamental behavior that leads to the problem in the first place?

]]> By: DR http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-518 DR Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:58:48 +0000 http://livefitblog.com/2008/12/16/the-plan-to-tax-soda-products-good-or-bad/#comment-518 <a href="http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/new-yorks-obesity-taxsocial-engineering-or-prudent-fiscal-policy/" rel="nofollow">My two cents:</a> * Soft drink companies are heavily subsidized through their use of HFCS as their main ingredient. So what we have here is one level of government taxing a product and another level of government subsidizing it….SMART * Soft drinks are cheap! If a 2 liter bottle of Coke costs $2.00, the new “fat tax” will add 30 cents to the bill. 30 cents!!! Who can’t come up with another 30 cents? Do they really think that this extra expense is going to cause obese New Yorkers to forgo their purchase of a vanilla Coke? Hmmm, let’s see, buy that bottle of Pepsi or pay the rent. What to do, what to do… This tax is designed to bring more money into the state’s near empty coffers. Period. It is not going to entice anyone to drink less pop. It will however, make it easier to add new taxes or even slap bans on other forms of junk food. My two cents:

* Soft drink companies are heavily subsidized through their use of HFCS as their main ingredient. So what we have here is one level of government taxing a product and another level of government subsidizing it….SMART

* Soft drinks are cheap! If a 2 liter bottle of Coke costs $2.00, the new “fat tax” will add 30 cents to the bill. 30 cents!!! Who can’t come up with another 30 cents? Do they really think that this extra expense is going to cause obese New Yorkers to forgo their purchase of a vanilla Coke? Hmmm, let’s see, buy that bottle of Pepsi or pay the rent. What to do, what to do…

This tax is designed to bring more money into the state’s near empty coffers.

Period.

It is not going to entice anyone to drink less pop.

It will however, make it easier to add new taxes or even slap bans on other forms of junk food.

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