Is the state going to address the issues which affect the obesity rate, the most notorious being economics and education? Are they going to fund and develop a program to keep high carbohydrate starch based meals out of pubic schools and replace them with healthier choices? On another level are they going to implement programs to address the issues which keep those on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder from climbing up the ladder? Is there a plan to provide a top notch public school education ensuring that everyone desiring to further their education after high school can do so and thus increase their income potential making it more likely they will not only understand the concept of good nutrition, but will be able to afford to put it into practice in their own lives?
Is there a plan to start subsidizing broccoli and tomatoes instead of corn?
There is something to be said for taxing nutritionally void sugar laden products, but the tax is a band aid without a real plan. Will a 5 percent decrease in consumption of soda products translate into a decrease in the obesity rates? Theoretically it could, but in a state where the obesity rate has gone from 10 percent in 1990 to equal to or greater than 25 percent in 2007 there needs to be more than a 5 percent decrease in the consumption of sugary soft drinks to justify the "makes us fat tax".
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Article comments
1 - dee
that budget from Patterson is a disgrace... we (the USA) have come full circle on taxes and need to put a stop to it... these as*holes think they can tax whatever they want... do they even consider instead of increasing taxes, attempting to manage their money better? the consumers should not be responsible for paying a "fat" tax on these sugary products, tax the corporations who make the product that is so bad for you... this county has some f*cked up people calling the shots
2 - cooper
There are certainly ways to address obesity. Taxing soft drinks is clearly not the answer especially taking into consideration, as you said, what they do with the money they already have. I admit to ignorance on the history of this governors fiscal habits.
3 - Silas Kain
Next thing you know we'll be taxed on what we see. Sorry for the sick humor but this is just one more example of politicians grasping at tax straws. Soon states will be charging a yearly road use tax based on the actual number of miles one drives their car. The Internet and Cable will be charged by the hour. Open your eyes, America. We're not going to have to worry about hourly wages. We're gonna have to start counting in minutes.
4 - cooper
You aren't far off, and the whole internet and cable thing is something I've been trying to follow. The things I am reading lately indicate your predictions may not be far off, unless everyone starts paying attention, and even then I wonder what chance we have at preserving things as we have them now.
5 - Silas Kain
People better smarten up. North Carolina could be putting this use tax in place very soon. Is the government going to use this as a "price for freedom" approach? Seems to me Americans keep paying and are getting a lot less for their buck.
6 - Ruvy
Silas, as usual, has his eye on the ball that is coming to hit you right in the eye.
And whatever the Americans do, the monkeys on government hill here in Israel are sure to copy. So it pays to keep an eye on what kinds of tax thefts the American governments are planning to pull off.
That said, the problem with obesity - aside from the obvious overconsumption of calories - is the commercial culture that pushes irresponsible behavior without consequences. The same culture that creates hundreds of thousands of abortions through "fucking for free" irresponsible sex also creates obesity through "stuffing for free" (You deserve a break today!" "Have it your way, right away!"), creates infantile expectations ("thirty minutes or you get it for free!") and pushes sitting at a computer typing (gee, what am I doing now?) and heating up the keys. On-line sex (less effort than the real thing), "chatting" etc., etc.
So the problem is less with the government trying to turn you all over and shake all the loose change out of your pockets - hey, what are governments for anyway, your benefit or something? - than with a sick culture that pushes and pushes irresponsible behavior and dumbs you down at the same time.
Read Carroll Quigley's works - if you can find them! Clinton did!
7 - Silas Kain
Hmmm. Why not a stupid tax? Forget it, Southern citizens don't have the cash. How about an elitist tax? Oops, can't do that, most of Obama's Cabinet comes from Harvard think tanks. Hey. How about selling the Senate seats from New York, Colorado and Illinois to the highest bidders? Now THAT'S an American solution! Oops, can't do that either unless you're a politician who's inside the political loop. Otherwise a politician might get prematurely arrested on trumped up charges.
8 - red state insurgent in a blue state
I would rather be a fat capitalist than a skinny socialist. 'nuff said.
9 - cooper
Ruvy:
I've read Quigley. He's a must read Alma mater at my grad school, but I can't see blaming the culture on personal behavior. I see lack of education and lack of money as a factor in both obesity and abortions.
10 - cooper
Goodness Silas what does the tax in New York State have to do with Obama's cabinet?
Anyway, we would have made more money with a "stupid tax" if we had initiated it with this last administration.
11 - Jim Tressor
This reminds me a lot of a fat tax! I don't think a fat tax is very practical - there are several things wrong with Pigouvian taxes in general. They are hard to calculate because it is impossible to determine the exact amount of externality caused, in this case by obesity, and they affect different people in different ways! Here is an article about why a fat tax wouldn't work.