Soda Tax

[Bruce MacPherson]

I see parents buying their kids breakfast at our convenience store each morning.....twinkies and pop!

Hard to legislate stupid.

[subroc]

...We would do well as a society to get that poisonous $#it out of schools and daycare. It makes kids fat.

Could you provide a list of all products that would be allowed in your society?

[YardleyLabs]

I've never been a fan of sin taxes, be they on liquor, cigarettes, drugs that are currently illegal, or cola. Personally, the only one that affects me are liquor taxes -- I drink absolutely no sweetened beverages. If I were going to identify a tax worth considering from a nutritional perspective, it would be an excise tax on all advertising for processed foods. Sugar is just one of the problems, and it may not be the worst.

[Gerry Clinchy]

Many schools have already taken vending machines out of schools. Sort of silly to take the machines out instead of just putting better things in the machines.

The whole point of taxing the sweetened beverages is that they are not really taxing the product, but rather the behavior they want to discourage. Yes, that would go for smoking, drugs, etc.

I can see restricting smoking in public places, as they have done in most places in PA. Except, that is, that casinos are given smoking areas The state gets 50% of the gaming revenues (as a tax), so am guessing that the casino people said lots of people smoke when they gamble, so they "need" smoking areas in the casinos. PA's law does specifically allow you to smoke in your own home. Wasn't that nice of them to add that? If a personal behavior infringes on someone else's rights, or endangers someone else, then I can see need for a law that protects another individual's safety or infringes on someone else's rights.

One could say that a drug user hurts nobody but himself. I think the problem with drugs like heroin, meth, coke is that eventually the addict simply can no longer function and can, indeed, become a danger to other people. Of course, it might be helpful for the health care issue since their lives would probably be shorter if free rein was given to their addiction.

How could we have missed it? The perfect name ... the "Twinkie Tax"

[WRL]

It is not society's job to regulate what children eat and drink. We need more parents that are worth a crap.

True.

WRL

[WRL]

By that logic, it's not societie's job to ban what people smoke and snort and inject, right? So you're for legalizing drugs I presume?

I see parents buying their kids breakfast at our convenience store each morning.....twinkies and pop!

Yes I am.


WRL

[WRL]

I've never been a fan of sin taxes, be they on liquor, cigarettes, drugs that are currently illegal, or cola. Personally, the only one that affects me are liquor taxes -- I drink absolutely no sweetened beverages. If I were going to identify a tax worth considering from a nutritional perspective, it would be an excise tax on all advertising for processed foods. Sugar is just one of the problems, and it may not be the worst.

I am. If you are a 50 year smoker and you get lung cancer, why should I have to help pay for your care?

They could put the "sin taxes" in a fund for health care. They could pay for it without raising taxes or going into debt. Hurry, someone needs to suggest it to Obama.

I'm also for people having to leave a deposit with the Nat'l Guard for a rescue mission too if they have to have their body recovered because they had the bright idea to climb Mt Hood in the winter.

Let people take MONETARY responsibility for their actions.

WRL

[ducknwork]

They could put the "sin taxes" in a fund for health care. They could pay for it without raising taxes or going into debt. Hurry, someone needs to suggest it to Obama.

A tax is a tax. A sin tax IS raising taxes...
________
COLORADO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

[ducknwork]

By that logic, it's not societie's job to ban what people smoke and snort and inject, right? So you're for legalizing drugs I presume?

No, I am not. Illegal drugs are a danger to other people. Totally different situation. Some 8 year old kid that weighs 200 lbs because his mama doesn't no how to parent is no danger to anyone but himself...



...and my paycheck when Messiahcare gets passed.
________
Petite live

[dnf777]

Could you provide a list of all products that would be allowed in your society?

When I say "as a society" I was not referring to governmental regualtion. How about parents getting together and petitioning schools to rid themselves of coke and vending machines? And I don't mean rallies with AR-15s.

I try not to eat anything that comes in bags, boxes or wrappers, and NEVER soda. Knowing human frailty, that means not bringing it home, b/c if a Dr. Pepper is staring at me everytime I open the fridge, I know what will happen.

The food industry has employed behavioral psychologists to help market and sell their products. Salt and sugar cravings are unavoidable human desires. In nature, they help us survive when salts and calories may be far and few between. When they're put in fancy, colorful boxes and stacked on shelves, and require only to unwrap or zap for 30 seconds, we typically can't resist.

Next time you're in WalMart, conduct this simple observation. Stand at the end of the vegetable area and notice the body habitus of people buying fresh fruits and vegetables. Then stand at the end of the potatochip/twinkie aisle and observe. Or the soda aisle. Hell, just notice the floor space dedicated to fresh produce versus potatochips and coke. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why our life expectancies are falling behind other countries.

to answer your question, adults should be able to stuff anything in their gullet or lungs that they want to. I do appreciate not having smoke blown in my face if I'm trying to enjoy a good meal, so I do agree with Pa's indoor smoking ban and public places.

bon apetite regards,
Dave