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Retailers, consumers and prices
Attack of the snack tax
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A worsening obesity epidemic and lingering recession have state and local governments scrambling for new streams of revenue — including taxes on soda and other sugary beverages.
That’s potentially bad news for the nation’s food and beverage industries, which are on the defensive as the battle rages behind the scenes.
If you watch TV, you’ve probably seen this ad from American Against Food Taxes, which is backed by the likes of McDonald’s and PepsiCo.
Nearly three dozen states already charge tax on sugary beverages. But, in most cases the tax is not high enough to curb consumption, said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center For Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University and author of “Food Fight.”
The Rudd Center’s Web site offers a calculator that shows the revenue a city or state could potentially generate with snack taxes — which are being eyed as funding for everything from public works projects to U.S. healthcare reform.
(Reuters photo)
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No snack tax to pay for an overweight, irresponsible government that spends it’s way into oblivion!
Sodas aren’t the only thing that cause obesity, and “junk food” is a very loose term. This would unfairly tax some industries while letting others slide. Penalizing soft drinks but letting chips and the frozen, fried, processed foods go is like taxing cigarettes but not dried tobacco and rolling papers.
Not sure what my opinion is on this, but we have to do something to curb obesity in this country. It is out of control.