Soda Tax

[Twotonsteak]

I'm hearing a lot of talk about proposed taxes to soda and sugary drinks in a lot of states. Most of it has been in New york as far as I'm aware, but it has recently picked up movement elsewhere.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/...6275ZU20100308 This article kinda gives a synopsis of it.

Alright, this is a joke right? It has to be. A good amount of our taxes go to corn farmers so they can produce more corn than the market dictates, artificially lowering the prices so we can have a cheap sweetener/shelf life extender. So, we pay taxes to keep HFCS low, and now they want to tax HFCS to raise the price so people think twice about buying something we get taxed on to keep it at a low price. MY BRAIN, IT HURTS.

People are saying this is a money grab, which it probably is, if I want my damn coke I will have my damn coke, and I assume a lot of other people will do the same, but...this is the most f*ed up logic I have ever witnessed. I mean C'MON

Thoughts?

Corn is also used in making ethanol, which is a fuel additive used in most US states.

OP:
No it's not a joke. It IS, however, a fine example of our Government over-reaching with the intent of making decisions that should be left to parents and competent adults.

I mean nothing screams "trust me" more than a bunch of fat-cats tossing up another tax to make all us "common people" be healthier.

[Agent Mercury]

Go for it!

[Paladin885]

beats living in the Union of soviet Socialist Michigan right now. Those republicans got that state by the balls right now.

Stay strong muscle heads, vote those cats out of office in the next elections!

[Mmoplayer111]

http://bit.ly/Huj6Vx

Sugar, at least the way our body processes it, is a poison. We aren't really meant to eat sugar in ANY form as much as we do.

This is a very long video but there is an important point, when he's knee deep in the metabolic process you'll note that the toxins produced when we metabolize sugar is the same as when we metabolize alcohol.

TLDR Video for those who can't take 1.5 hours: http://bit.ly/Hquxvr

[Twotonsteak]

Hi Americans,


Your Government is in serious debt.

Therefore your Government is imposing stricter austerity measures.


They start by taxing non-essential, economical mainstream products with the social reason of "unhealthy for the people" in order to justify austerity.


If you have ever bought a mainstream product like an iphone, or shop at Walmart, then congratulations, you've helped feed the capitalist machine which has led to this situation for yourselves.


Enjoy rising food / gas prices during the course of the rest of your lives.


Sucks doesnt it.


Good day.



(By the way, soda is actually battery acid for your body too).

"In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided."

The problem is that the US Government is NOT lowering spending or reducing benefits.

Now let me explain what is really going on, since you apparently don't understand.

Michelle Obama has been pushing for healthier, more active children. As a result of this, and because of other causes, the Government has decided to legislate parental decisions.

Now I COULD give you many examples of how well the economies of so many other countries are (not) doing. But apparently US-bashing is allowed on these forums, and like-wise responses are given infractions. So I will merely state that while our economy is not perfect, we also haven't needed a multi-national organization to bail us out. We also aren't still driving cars from the 50's. We can own business and buy/sell property.

[Deleted]

Tax Soda? Well, then i'd have to tax my foot in every politicians ass.

Where is the like button on this site?

But yeah, instead of introducing stupid taxes like these (well, it's not stupid in the sense that there's such a huge numbers of fat people in the US that could be a huge source of money) couldn't they start raising taxes for everyone and spend their money on stuff that isn't the military?

We also aren't still driving cars from the 50's. We can own business and buy/sell property.

Wait what.

[Deleted]

Sometimes I'm really glad i don't live in America.

[rafein]

[/COLOR]

Where is the like button on this site?

But yeah, instead of introducing stupid taxes like these (well, it's not stupid in the sense that there's such a huge numbers of fat people in the US that could be a huge source of money) couldn't they start raising taxes for everyone and spend their money on stuff that isn't the military?


Wait what.

Hell, with our screwed up tax system, less than 50% of the US population ends up paying taxes. Think last year, it was 48% of Americans taxes were a loss for them. Everyone else gets their withholding tax returned. Bout 20% of American's tax returns are for more than they paid, so they are profiting off the tax code.

Why I hate when democrats want people to "pay their fair share".

[smelltheglove]

About the pure water is toxic... Your reds cells try to keep the liquid they have inside equal in mineral to the liquid in your veins by adding some into them. So if your blood become too pure(not enough salt and other mineral) from drinking pure water, your red cell will explode from getting to much blood inside of them, since you can't get pure water by adding pure water to normal water. At least is what I remember from my college science class.

as it was explained to me, it caused a similar situation to what happens to salt-water fish when they go into fresh water, that the body's cells try to take in massive amounts of water (osmosis can be a bitch) and cell walls rupture.

of course, if you've ever used a navy ship-board water fountain (or scuttlebutt if you prefer :P) then you'd realize the likelihood of the water reaching you in such purity is not really a concern, lol. although i suspect that the purity issue is one the navy learned the hard way (like so many other things)

[stuninc]

I'm in Colorado, and we've had this soda tax (though everyone here calls it the fat tax) for almost a couple years now. I find that its totally bs and unwarranted. Its peoples decisions what they eat, and I feel that its not the governments right to tell us what we can or cannot eat.

[Lothaeryn]

It's bad for you. I think it's good that somebody wants to try and make the population healthier, when the population itself obviously doesn't care and doesn't have the willpower to change.

EDIT: Read the thread now, even if they did this -only- to raise more money, ultimately it will still be better for your health whether they intended it or not.

Maybe because the population already knows it is unhealthy and just doesn't want to give up something they could easily do so on their own without a government telling them that they should?

If you really want to get rid of something unhealthy in the US diet, tax the fuck out of Alcohol and cigarettes even more, they cause more health problems than consuming Soda over a long period of time.

[Krolikn]

How dare they try to make people healthier...HOW DARE THEY!!!

[Lothaeryn]

How dare they try to make people healthier...HOW DARE THEY!!!

Except its not because they want people to be healthier, they just want our money because they need more of it from us. The "health concern" reasoning is blatantly BS to anyone with even half a developed brain, and anyone who honestly thinks the US government cares 2 shits about the health of their population seriously does not understand how the current system works.

The only thing they care for is how many people they can tax to satiate their standards of living and to keep Congress afloat. Aside from that, they don't care if your missing your foot from diabetes or not.

[mistuhbull]

But most people are stupid. Most people don't care about the consequences of their actions. That's why you've got the government, which -should- concentrate the people who do think about the future and about more than your immediate comfort.

And I agree about the alcohol and tobacco part, though I don't see why you couldn't include the soda in it too. Soda is IMO much more harmful that alcohol or cigarettes, look at how many people are fat and then look at how many people are alcoholics or die to lung cancer caused by smoking. Though that is just my opinions not backed up by facts.

Does the government have the right to mandate that every adult go to the gym and run on the treadmill for 30m, 5x a week?

If people want to be fat and drink soda, then let them do so. Tax shit all you want, but don't lie about why you're taxing it or tax it because it's "bad for you". Everything is "bad for you".

[Lothaeryn]

And I agree about the alcohol and tobacco part, though I don't see why you couldn't include the soda in it too. Soda is IMO much more harmful that alcohol or cigarettes, look at how many people are fat and then look at how many people are alcoholics or die to lung cancer caused by smoking. Though that is just my opinions not backed up by facts.

While I agree that Soda is harmful, I don't agree that it is as harmful immediately as Drugs and Alcohol are compartively.

Soda does have certain chemicals and ingredients that if ingested over a very long time is detrimental to your health, but you are not going to kill yourself if you drink a gallon of soda in one day whereas you will die from Alcohol poisoning long before you even finish the gallon with something like beer.

To be honest, every single thing we eat is equally deadly in long term consumption, the key is balance, not outright banning them from our diet.

Soda may not have much if at all any dietary value, but it is a small vice compared to something that kills thousands of people a day in one session of consumption(namely alcohol, which leads to people doing stupid things, which then leads to someone dying for it).

[Noomz]

I'm hearing a lot of talk about proposed taxes to soda and sugary drinks in a lot of states. Most of it has been in New york as far as I'm aware, but it has recently picked up movement elsewhere.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/...6275ZU20100308 This article kinda gives a synopsis of it.

Alright, this is a joke right? It has to be. A good amount of our taxes go to corn farmers so they can produce more corn than the market dictates, artificially lowering the prices so we can have a cheap sweetener/shelf life extender. So, we pay taxes to keep HFCS low, and now they want to tax HFCS to raise the price so people think twice about buying something we get taxed on to keep it at a low price. MY BRAIN, IT HURTS.

People are saying this is a money grab, which it probably is, if I want my damn coke I will have my damn coke, and I assume a lot of other people will do the same, but...this is the most f*ed up logic I have ever witnessed. I mean C'MON

Thoughts?

Todays western problem: DEYR TAXIN MUH SOWDUH!

I don't care the slightest if it happens all over the world either. Just drink less soda. You're not gonna die from less sugar and artificial addatives.
There's other things that taxes need to be lowered for, like healthy foods and egological farming, but I don't see you crying about that.

[nixcookies]

Thank god I don't live in America right now, I would be furious if Fizzy Drinks/Soda and other 'dangerous' foods like chocolate were taxed and became unaffordable they're one of the few things in this world that consistently make me happy.

[Theodon]

Todays western problem: DEYR TAXIN MUH SOWDUH!

I don't care the slightest if it happens all over the world either. Just drink less soda. You're not gonna die from less sugar and artificial addatives.
There's other things that taxes need to be lowered for, like healthy foods and egological farming, but I don't see you crying about that.

I think the issue would be if people actually took that advice and substituted "unhealthy" foods and drinks for healthy ones. The healthy ones would likely get taxed harder as a result as the motivation behind this is likely to simply squeeze more money out of the people buying the goods.

The other issue I see is that sugar substitutes that are deemed safe and healthy are added to food and drinks in massive quantities, and when it actually looks like they aren't actually all that healthy nothing changes because the money is already being made from those substitutes.

[Noomz]

I'm in Colorado, and we've had this soda tax (though everyone here calls it the fat tax) for almost a couple years now. I find that its totally bs and unwarranted. Its peoples decisions what they eat, and I feel that its not the governments right to tell us what we can or cannot eat.

Posts like yours make me cry in laughter at how messed up the world is. Government taxes your non-essential, unhealthy products, and you're in an uproar crying like they've takne your rights.
But when people die in the streets, murder, violence, when your banks screw your country over and your government is actually taking your REAL rights away, you can't be arsed to lift a finger.

[nixcookies]

Posts like yours make me cry in laughter at how messed up the world is. Government taxes your non-essential, unhealthy products, and you're in an uproar crying like they've takne your rights.
But when people die in the streets, murder, violence, when your banks screw your country over and your government is actually taking your REAL rights away, you can't be arsed to lift a finger.

That doesn't even make any sense. How is one's rights being taken away when someone dies on the street from an unknown aliment?

Also how do you know that user isn't concerned with those issues as well, and post accordingly?