Do You Support .03 CentTax On Sugar Drinks?

High fructose corn poison is the problem. And Donald Rumsfeld's neuro toxin Aspartame (which apparently would not be subject to the same tax) is NOT the solution.

But ask the anti-trade crowd here and they will tell you that we need to protect American jobs and that imported food isn't safe.

Sugar should be untaxed.

a deposit on ALL bottles.

Anything that significantly contributes to medical costs.

And implement a single payer plan.

:o

(What a ruckus that one raised).

Their profits can absorb this cost, Id image.

GO!

Hah.

The manufacturer has to determine at what price they should sell their product at in order to maximize their profit. If they are pricing at marginal cost then yes they would have to raise their price or else they would be producing at a loss. But soft drink manufacturers have a great degree of monopoly power and they charge significantly more for their products tha their marginal cost. If they pass that 5 cent tax on to the consumer, some consumers will stop buying their product. They need to calculate whether or not the additional revenue they collect from the extra 5 cents for each sale is more than the loss in revenue they get from losing customres. And that's actually just the most basic calculation they have to make.

I taught that class about 10 times, myself.

Costs get passed on until they can't get passed on - that's how it would actually work in the real world. That's part of why gasoline prices are so volatile.

Is this a 3% tax? Or is it 3¢?

And what is it per? Per pound? Per ton? Per unit sold?

Will the tax on a 2-liter bottle be the same as on a 12-ounce can?

And will it also cover high-fructose corn syrup?

So, a soda that cost $.50 would cost... $.5003 ?

Do we even have currency for that?

The Left can find more sins to tax and the Right is always trying to
get into our bedrooms.

I wish times were better. This is just me, myself and I. I would
rather contribute a small amount to a Health Fund.(Taxes)

I'm so sick of all of this shit.

I thinks its good policy, but the politics of it are very very bad.

That kind of indirect harassment through tax policy makes for an alienating civilization.

If someone wants to use tax policy to reduce obesity then do it honestly -- tax body weight.

If that sounds unfair, why?

The correlation between the goal and tax policy is 100%. Couldn't be fairer.

Rather than trying to generalize about what makes people overweight just tax weight and let individuals react however is best for them. Maybe someone needs to eat less fat or get more activity... taxing Coke will not "help" them much.

A fat tax is probably regressive. But, of course, a soda tax is fiercely regressive.

"But it's only three cents!" Well, if it is "only" three cents then lets skip it.

If being heavy isn't someone's fault then maybe wanting to drink soda isn't someone's fault either.

Actually taxing the problem sounds shocking and unfair only because we have a conditioned passive-aggressive national style.

Yes for soda, energy drinks and anything with less than 15% fruit juice.

But I don't want juice taxed. I'm not a big juice drinker, but taxing them, even the ones with not a lot of juice, a lot of water, and yes, sometimes too much sugar, would unduly burden lower income people and they need that juice for their kids.

It won't curb behavior and it's an awesome shiny new thing for rethugs to harp on. Not worth it.

Add a one cent tax to paper.

This tax will hit the poor, working poor, and lower middle class the hardest.

which is entirely self serving and only leads to self masturbatory behavior where you get to say :hey ppl agree with me!"

I don't mind any reasonable tax that would pay for health care for all.

I was/am also in favor of the 5c road tax that we tried to put on gasoline so that EVERYONE in the state would have basic insurance 15/30/5 in california.

that was killed by the insurance industry.

More details are necessary.

and I haven't heard of breweries going out of business.
The arguments against the tax is just bullshit.

mark

would be a violation of Obama's campaign pledge on taxes: "I can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes...you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime."

He already broke his promise with the tax hike on cigarettes, which is another regressive tax, and I'm still pissed at him for it. I expect better than that out of him, and "He's not McCain" isn't good enough. I do not support any new tax on sugary drinks or any other grocery item, "healthy" or not. I want him to keep his goddamned promise from this point on with no exceptions, including health care. If he doesn't, he might want to start expecting me to stay home in 2012.

even the fucking air that we breathe.

If they're going to do this, then make it a real tax. Say like .03 per oz.

Lets get the money from the people that have and can spare some at this time. We can look at regressive taxes like this if need be but it is bad politics to keep nipping at the little people before or without bringing back some fairness to wealth distribution.