Carrie Stambaugh: Tax might make us healthier: 5/22/09

Columns

Discussion

May 21, 2009

Anonymous The Daily Independent Thu May 21, 2009, 10:02 PM EDT

The Senate Finance Committee has been meeting recently to discuss how to pay for desperately needed changes to our health care system.

One of the hundreds of ideas lawmakers are considering to help pay for a massive overhaul (President Obama’s proposal will cost $1.2 trillion) includes taxing soda and other sugary drinks.

Proponents of the idea make similar arguments to those we heard during the numerous cigarette tax debates in Kentucky. By taxing a product proven to cause serious health problems, supporters argue it will cause both a decrease in consumption and an increase in revenues that can be used to care for the ill effects of the product.

But taxing an American staple like soda pop? It’s as American as apple pie, albiet a lot less healthy.

Opponents argue the idea is an attack on our collective cultural heritage and on several of the America’s largest and most successful companies. How could we even think with a clear conscious about doing that, especially in a recession?

I want to know why we haven’t done it sooner.

A “sin” tax on soda is as progressive a tax as we can get. Only those who drink it, pay for it — just like taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline.

The more you buy the more you pay. If you don’t want to pay, don’t buy it. It’s that simple.

As for the cultural and economic effects on our society, I don’t think soft drinks are going anywhere. We could drink a lot less of them and still be drinking a whole lot.

How and when Americans drink pop could stand to be revamped. I’m sure the soft drink companies with their large advertising budgets can figure how to do that.

As for me, while I don’t drink an excessive amount of pop, I’m willing to pay 3 extra cents per 12 ounces.

I’m sure I won’t think twice paying 3 extra cents for a root beer to pour over some ice cream at a drive-in on a hot summer night or 6 more cents to drink a hand-mixed cherry coke when I visit an old-fashioned soda fountain.

But I might think twice when I’m scrounging around in my desk for change to pop into the soda machine to quench my afternoon thirst and head to the water cooler instead.

Consumption aside, I believe the most important thing a tax on soda could do is continue the national dialogue Americans must have about making healthier food choices.

In addition to using some of those funds to pay for the thousands of Americans recieving medical care for conditions that are caused or exasperated by the unhealthy food they put in their mouths, some of that money should be put toward education.

Teach children and adults how to make healthier choices all the time. Teach them the science behind why excessive consumption of sugary and fatty foods compounded over a lifetime can lead to obesity and adult on-set diabetes. Show them the reality of those diseases, which so many Americans are struggling and suffering with every day.

Teach them that even the most sugary of sodas are OK in moderation. Just like that apple pie.

That’s something we could all benefit from learning.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.

Text Only

Columns

Mark Maynard: Charles will be in charge: 2/9/12
It was at least mildly interesting a couple of weeks ago when the deadline for filing for local elected offices came and went without much fanfare.

February 8, 2012
John Cannon: After passion, love still grows: 2/8/12
While a naive student at Morehead State University more than 40 years ago, my then girlfriend made me an offer I could not refuse. It was only later that I learned I should have refused it.

February 7, 2012
Cathie Shaffer: All that’s old is new again: 02/07/12
Every night before I go to bed, I click on my electric blanket. There’s nothing I like better on a cold — OK, lately, it’s been coolish — night than a nice, warm bed.

February 7, 2012
Tim Preston: Art downtown, ‘hippie’ soap, Valentine’s and living-dead machines: 02/05/12
I’m not certain this is anything that could be classified as a trend, although I have noticed something in downtown Ashland I am compelled to encourage.

February 6, 2012
Freeways to freedom
Last week, while driving to South Shore, I glanced at the dealer placard on the car ahead of me on the Jesse Stuart Bridge.

February 6, 2012
Lee Ward: 02/05/2012 — Dieting is a man's world
A male coworker is dieting, apparently for the first time.

February 5, 2012
Katie Brandenburg: Finding a time machine: 2/3/12
My grandmother once told me a story about a boy she grew up with who built a time machine in his family’s shed.

February 2, 2012
John Cannon: Not a chore but a true labor of love: 2/1/12
It was a slow and tedious task, but it was anything but work.

January 31, 2012
Cathie Shaffer: A whiff of the past: 1/31/12
It occurred to me, as I listened to a conversation about today’s home medical treatments versus yesterday’s, that one big factor is the smell.

January 31, 2012
TIM PRESTON: Downtown scenes, Valentine’s dinner, bacon and running
Tim Preston's weekly business column for Jan. 29.

January 30, 2012
More Columns Headlines

Columns

Search Results

Discussion

Carrie Stambaugh: Tax might make us healthier: 5/22/09

Site Map

Contact Us