(Thumbnail image from Flickr user diongillard)
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examines the health affects of soda and other sugary drinks. The authors of the study propose a tax on these products and contend that it would not only reduce obesity among Americans, but it would raise billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to fund healthcare.
While the idea of a soda tax is nothing new, the study has people talking about it once again, especially in the context of national health care.
We look at perspectives from CNBC, The New York Times, CNN, and Forbes Online as they discuss the effectiveness of the tax, how it might affect the beverage industry and consumers economically, and whether it would really make a positive difference in consumer health.
On CNBC’s Power Lunch, Democratic strategist Julian Epstein considers the positive affects the tax would have on healthcare.
“I think this is a very good tax. Democrats have promised to pay for health-care, this can pay for almost a quarter of health care costs. ... Soft drinks are basically junk. You’re just drinking trash. All of the studies are showing that it is linked to whole host of health issues. Obesity costs this country $150 billion a year, half of which are paid for by the public through Medicaid and Medicare.”
Later in the program and former Arizona congressman JD Hayworth looks at the issue from a broader perspective of constitutional rights.
“You are talking about controlling people’s lives and its fundamentally wrong in a constitutional republic to turn our government into a nanny state.”
Those in the beverage industry have said that a soda tax would lead to an increase in price which would likely be passed onto consumers. In an interview with the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, The New York Times looks at how price increases might be curbed.
“If the tax was levied on the manufacturers of the sugary drinks they might be able to spread the cost among many of their products, from chips to granola bars to diet sodas, which would keep sugary drink users from feeling the full impact.”
CNN takes a look at how the beverage industry is responding to the recent soda tax proposal, framing industry-sponsored commercials as one more obstacle in the way of health care reform.
“But she will have to win over an army of skeptics, from republicans who are nervous about the price tag,… to special interest groups. Beverage companies are running an add opposing one congressional proposal that would pay for the bill in part with a soft drink tax. Commercial: This is no time for congress to be adding taxes on the simple pleasures we all enjoy. Like juice drinks and soda.”
An opinion piece in Forbes Online questions whether levying a tax on soda and other sugary drinks really has a positive effect on health.
“How much of a tax increase would lead to a meaningful reduction in consumption? Would that, in turn, lead to meaningful changes in diet and weight? More to the point, if the demand for soda is highly responsive to changes in price, mightn’t I switch to drinking something that replaces the calories I would have gotten from soda?”
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