Effects Of Tax On Soda

Improved Essays
The American population has a love of soda. They also have an obesity epidemic and a rising rate of obesity related diseases. Many city politicians have attempted to pass a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in an effort to decrease consumption. However, a soda tax has met with opposition by consumers, some politicians, and the soft drink industry. The tax proposal continues to come up for debate by city officials and public health experts as the nation attempts to decrease empty carbohydrate intake, improve nutrition and reduce diabetes. Taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages would, for the most part, make a positive impact on improving the health of individuals and the nation as a whole. Governments should tax sugar-sweetened beverages in order …show more content…
According to the American Heart Association, drinking just one bottle of soda puts one over the recommended daily limit of sugar (Bittman). Unfortunately, many soda consumers will drink more than one soda per day, further putting their health at risk from the large intake of sugar. In a meta-analysis, soda consumption intake was associated with an increase in weight and a lower intake of milk, calcium and other key nutrients. This ultimately places one at risk for several medical problems such as diabetes (Vartanian). The high glycemic load from the sugar in soda increases the insulin resistance of cells, therefore increasing the risk for diabetes (Brownell). While each individual is capable of limiting soda and sugar intake on his own, it is unfortunately not a choice that is commonly made. As a society, there needs to be a change in nutrition and lifestyle to produce a large-scale effect on reducing soda consumption if we are to improve our obesity rates. Taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages is proposed as a means of discouraging consumers from purchasing this product. If taxes are imposed on sugar-sweetened beverages, people will be less likely to buy them, which will reduce their sugar intake, leading to a healthier …show more content…
The money collected from the tax would go toward medical care associated with obesity-related diseases, nutrition education, and disease prevention. According to the New York Times, the soda tax should work “to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and therefore obesity, and therefore diabetes, and therefore health care costs, and to raise money for health education about the dangers of overconsumption of sugar” (Bittman). The tax is simple to administer and it can lead to more consumption of water or other no-calorie beverages (Brownell). It is proposed that a tax of one cent per ounce of soda would generate around $14.9 billion in just the first year (Brownell). This money would go a long way towards supporting childhood nutrition programs, obesity prevention programs, and health care for the uninsured (Brownell). City government would be able to use this money to fund nutrition campaigns that would improve the caloric knowledge of all US citizens, much like tobacco taxes are used to fund preventative service campaigns against smoking. Governments should tax soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages and use the money collected to fund education on healthier alternatives and fund treatment for obesity-related diseases, like

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    According to a this term life infographic, drinking soda can cause asthma from the sodium benzoate, heart disease from the high fructose levels, and kidney issues from phosphoric acid. It can also cause obesity, and “70% of cardiovascular disease is related to obesity. 30% of gallbladder disease is related to obesity.” It is clear that soda is leading to obesity, but strictly limiting soda will not end the obesity problem, because there are other drinks that are responsible. Passing the soda ban would be inconsequential, because a majority of the people that drink large amounts of soda are aware that it is unhealthy.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dr Marshall believes that taxing sugar would stop the consumption of too much of it and promote health food (Marshall). Even though some people might say excess sugar consumption is not the only way that reads to obesity the fact is if the people are consuming fewer amounts of sugar and do body excise they cannot become obese because they are watching their…

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sugar Tax Australia

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Studies in USA focusing on the sugar tax implementation by Fitts and Vader (2013) concluded that their research ‘does not support the theory that soda taxes have a negative effect on body-mass index’ (Fitts and Vader 2013). Which ties in with the findings of Fletcher et al. (2010) and others, Powell et al. (2009) who found ‘no statistically significant associations between state-level soda taxes and obesity’. With this being said it is hard to justify that lower income earners would choose the healthy alternative like water or make proper use of the long run benefits from the tax.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    No one ever expected for sugar sweetened beverages to become a threat to human health. The article Ounces of Prevention-The Public Policy Case for Taxes on Sugared Beverages is a depiction of the growing worries of experts in public health; Kelly D. Brownell and Thomas R. Frieden manifest the importance of increasing the taxes on sugar sweetened beverages in order to generate a decrease in consumption, promoting people to make a wise selection to reduce the rate of obesity. The ascending consumption of sugar sweetened beverages is presented as the “largest driver of the obesity epidemic”. Imposing an excise tax may be a solution to this preventable problem. Demanding taxation on sugar sweetened beverages will produce a revenue.…

    • 1535 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Soda Tax Essay

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages

    With that being said, the soda tax would help so much because it would stop the consumers from buying, which would be one step closer to people losing weight and eating healthier. Soda has so much sugar and caffeine that helps the body stay awake and energized for what seems like a long time but most likely only lasts about an hour. Eating a fruit in the morning gives you more energy than drinking a cup of coffee or soda. Much more energy than people can even believe. It is not a matter of losing money if anything; it will help the government make money and use it for the better in the United States.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why Is Too Much Sugar Bad

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Arguing Over Sugar During recent years, anti-soda crusaders have consistently blamed sodas for obesity’s sake. Certain states are taking this issue seriously. For instance, New York’s ex-Mayor Bloomberg submitted a plan to limit soda sizes; however, that idea was tossed out by New York’s highest…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The obesogenic environment group says we cannot continue to do it alone. Marketing tactics of unhealthy snacks and beverages is where the enormous changes need to happen. Conniff (2010), notes a 2010 article by Kelly Brownell stating “what 's happening now with soda is precisely what happened in the debate over tobacco.” Beverage companies are utilizing the same sort of systems that tobacco lobbyist once used. There is data linking sugared beverages to obesity, diabetes, and coronary illness and these beverages are forcefully showcased, particularly to kids.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Berkeley Drinks Less Soda

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages

    With her article “Faced With a New Tax, Berkeley Drinks Less Soda,” published in The Upshot of the New York Times on August 25, 2016, health care reporter Margot Sanger enters a fierce debate about the impact of the soda tax on the consumption of sugary drink. Since 2014 when the tax first went into effect in Berkeley, California; attempts to impose the tax have been a matter of public controversy, and this is what motivated Sanger to produce this piece. The story’s “Kairotic moment,” as referred to in Chapter Eight of Writing Arguments (WA), is the new study of the tax in California, which “adds to the evidence” that taxing sugar-sweetened beverages is not the main reason for the reduction of it’s consumption (A3). Throughout the article,…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Soda Ban Essay

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In recent discussion of banning sodas cups larger than 16oz, a way of lowering obesity rate, an arguable issue has been whether it will be efficient in lowering the obesity rate or not. On one hand, some argue that it would be the first step to decreasing the obesity rate altogether. On the other…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Friend, Congress is trying to sneak through a tax hike, but we won’t let them. Congress has decided that it knows what is best for you and tax your favorite soda. They believe that they can tell you what to drink, but here’s the thing, they want to punish you. With the Super Bowl coming up and Super Bowl parties abound, your party might cost even more this year! Can you really afford another tax on top of the other things you are already paying for?…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the time that this unrelenting quarrel continues the majority of independent researchers and nutritionists believe that the consumption of sugary sodas are a huge factor at raising serious health risks in a human's well being. Their judgements have been based off of legions of proven studies that have been tested over…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many say that problems caused by sugary drinks are too serious for us to not do anything and even is this measure would just teach us portion control it is worthwhile doing it. In her article “Why Soda Ban Will Work In Fight Against Obesity?” Nadia Arumugam claims that we have become so accustomed to instant gratification and our set of mind is focused on “the bigger the better” that a restriction like the soda ban will at least help us learn to say “No”. Obesity is indeed a very real and serious issue, but urgency is not the most important thing.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Taxing Junk Food Essay

    • 1822 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Every year, thousands of Americans go to stores, buy the bad foods, and get into a bad health that they might not be able to fix on their own. Without help, they can continue to be at a health they don’t want to be. In order to set people up to get a good health, it is important to make healthier foods easier to get. A way to do this is to have a junk food tax. While some people may say this will work, others might be against it saying that what we need is to educate people on healthy food choices.…

    • 1822 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While I do understand why people would think that the soda tax might affect the poor neighborhoods, the soda tax while a start is still imperfect and if designed taking in all factors would help the communities because the money from the taxes could be used for a lot of different things (Bowden) and how some research has showed that there is no correlation between soda tax and obesity (Marlow and…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In consideration of a junk food tax, investigation of potential impact on the individual is of particular significance. It is imperative not only in aiding assessment without oversight of the direct nature of the impact such policy would ultimately have on Australians, but also in recognition that the overall outcome is composed of the sum of individual effect. Support for the tax is driven by the goal to lower the extent of many individuals’ consumption of foods not conducive to achieving and maintaining body mass indices (BMI) in the healthy range. As those with BMIs beyond the healthy range are known to be at major risk for health conditions such as diabetes, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and degenerative musculoskeletal disorders…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays