No Free Lunch Nor Cheap Soda
May 12th, 2009 1:18 am | by John Jansen |The WSJ reports that the Obama Administration is considering a tax on soda to assist in the funding of government sponsored health insurance.
It is looking as though there is no tax that these fellows oppose or would not consider using. I noted earlier today that the Administration has targeted securities dealers, life insurance companies and large estates as vehicles to raise revenues.
American history runs in cycles. The cycle which embraced tax cuts is DOA and a wide swath of the American economy is now fair game as a source of revenue raising.
I suppose they ran a focus group or two during the election cycle and figured that taxing Coca Cola would not fly during campaign season and better to drop that proposal into the hopper when you have a firm grasp on the reins and levers of power.
16 Responses to “No Free Lunch Nor Cheap Soda”
By BL on May 12, 2009 | Reply
An epidemic of diabetes is coming at us like a freight train. The human body simply did not evolve to handle huge bursts of high fructose corn syrup. Some day, many of the people drinking a lot of it will be a burden on the health care system. I would rather tax bad behavior than good behaviors like working work and investing.
BL
By ejsmith on May 12, 2009 | Reply
I agree with BL, but I think they should be going after Little Debbie snack cakes. I’m pretty sure the U.S. is the only country in the world currently allowing such a filthy product to be sold as food.
By John Jansen on May 12, 2009 | Reply
At some level an individual should be responsible for his or her actions.
For the government to intervene at that level seems an act of overkill.
By Jay on May 12, 2009 | Reply
John: The problem is that some people believe that we are entitled to unlimited consumption of health care services that are approved by the government. If the government is going to pay for our health care, expect it to intrude on our behaviors that could increase the long-run costs of the government.
Once your neighbor is “officially” paying for your health care they have an interest in what you eat, how many people you sleep with (think STDs), what hobbies you take up (think extreme sports), etc.
By Bill Bondeal on May 12, 2009 | Reply
If you think single-payer govts tend to intrude on the sex lives of the electorate, go to Amsterdam.
By Michael Krause on May 12, 2009 | Reply
Between the high fruc corn syrup, and carbonic acid leeching calcium from our bones, this sounds like an appropriate tax to properly account for a negative externality.
Now I hope they stay away from my favorite rib BBQ place… That place has giant negative externality written all over it.
By Bman on May 12, 2009 | Reply
Why stop there – why not massive tax increase on all fast food?
By John Jansen on May 12, 2009 | Reply
that is great!!
By Andrew on May 12, 2009 | Reply
some of you guys are going crazy, taxing a product never deters people from buying it, unless it is taxed upwards of 50% etc. Adding 3 cents to the cost of a soda is going to do nothing. Plus each parent should teach their child, most children can’t pay for their own food/soda so really where is it coming from?
By Bman on May 12, 2009 | Reply
some of you are missing the point – the insane level of gov’t intervention is stealing from any real growth prospects in the future. And don’t forget, all the government interventions are TEMPORARY.
By danny on May 12, 2009 | Reply
why have sodas and little Debbie snack cakes, when you can have great wine and cheese? Vive la France!!
Or good beer and Pretzels, Wunderwalt!
Or awesome tagliatelli al dente with extra virgin olive oil!
or a good Paella!
The problem is that this society never learned how to eat well, we are always on a rush, having breakfast (hi calories bagels and bad coffee and soda) and lunch (microwave food or sandwiches with hi sugar iced tea and soda) at our desks in the office; and then we get home, and have a steak or hot dogs or pizza!
so… why not lower taxes on good wine, and encourage a full one hour lunch, with a decent meal.
By Bman on May 12, 2009 | Reply
If the gov’t really wants to raise money – tax reality tv shows and processed foods.
By Gary on May 12, 2009 | Reply
You are all forgetting the greatest growth story in recent decades:
the government should tax all the think tanks, university endowments, religious institutions, and non-profit organizations.
Universities increase tuition by twice the rate of GDP growth, never mind inflation. Plus they pay no property taxes. And they pay no taxes on their endowments. Boston is having major revenue problems because the whole city is owned by Harvard, BC, BU, MIT, etc
The largest land owner in New York City is not Donald Trump. By a huge margin, the Roman Catholic church is the largest real estate investor. Its one thing to make actual churches tax free, but why are commercial properties owned by the church also tax free?
And the biggest growth industry in recent years has been the explosion of so-called non-profit organizations. Every pet cause in the world has several of them. Full time staff draw salaries and benefits plus the CEOs get perks just like their for profit counterparts. The “profits” get split between the staff and the supported cause — but otherwise the only difference is that these groups do not pay taxes. Check out the compensation and perks given by United Way or some of the research hospitals
Half of our society (not counting government itself) does not pay any taxes… that is not sustainable
By gab on May 12, 2009 | Reply
A better question would be, did anyone read the article? Here’s the evidence they muster…
“Senior staff members for some Democratic senators at the center of the effort to craft health-care legislation are weighing the idea behind closed doors, Senate aides said.”
Does that sound like the “Obama Administration” to you?
By Gary on May 12, 2009 | Reply
Gab– yes, that does sound like the Obama administration.
First, Obama doesn’t have any ideas of his own. That was a big criticism Hilary Clinton had when campaigning — she couldn’t attack a non-existent platform. As a congressman, Obama pretty much thought whatever Nancy Pelosi told him to think. Now that he is president, he continues to get a lot of “his” ideas from his handlers in congress.
Second, the plan is being hatched “behind closed doors”. Does that sound like a democracy? Obama is acting exactly like the Bush gang, making decisions that fly in the face of American values and forcing them through without thought or debate.
Obama has his delegates to this mafia don meeting — not that it matters since his opinion is whatever the extremists in Congress tell him it is
By GreenAB on May 13, 2009 | Reply
you guys should get used to the idea of tax hikes, the sooner the better.
just have a look at yesterdays budget data and the estimates of earlier than estimated exhaustion of social security/medicare funds.
to think that the us can borrow at this pace forever is naive.
so either public services will have to be drastically or taxes on whatever/whoever will have to go up!