Published: May 21, 2009 10:02 pm      

Carrie Stambaugh: Tax might make us healthier: 5/22/09

The Senate Finance Committee has been meeting recently to discuss how to pay for desperately needed changes to our health care system.

One of the hundreds of ideas lawmakers are considering to help pay for a massive overhaul (President Obama’s proposal will cost $1.2 trillion) includes taxing soda and other sugary drinks.

Proponents of the idea make similar arguments to those we heard during the numerous cigarette tax debates in Kentucky. By taxing a product proven to cause serious health problems, supporters argue it will cause both a decrease in consumption and an increase in revenues that can be used to care for the ill effects of the product.

But taxing an American staple like soda pop? It’s as American as apple pie, albiet a lot less healthy.

Opponents argue the idea is an attack on our collective cultural heritage and on several of the America’s largest and most successful companies. How could we even think with a clear conscious about doing that, especially in a recession?

I want to know why we haven’t done it sooner.

A “sin” tax on soda is as progressive a tax as we can get. Only those who drink it, pay for it — just like taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline.

The more you buy the more you pay. If you don’t want to pay, don’t buy it. It’s that simple.

As for the cultural and economic effects on our society, I don’t think soft drinks are going anywhere. We could drink a lot less of them and still be drinking a whole lot.

How and when Americans drink pop could stand to be revamped. I’m sure the soft drink companies with their large advertising budgets can figure how to do that.

As for me, while I don’t drink an excessive amount of pop, I’m willing to pay 3 extra cents per 12 ounces.

I’m sure I won’t think twice paying 3 extra cents for a root beer to pour over some ice cream at a drive-in on a hot summer night or 6 more cents to drink a hand-mixed cherry coke when I visit an old-fashioned soda fountain.

But I might think twice when I’m scrounging around in my desk for change to pop into the soda machine to quench my afternoon thirst and head to the water cooler instead.

Consumption aside, I believe the most important thing a tax on soda could do is continue the national dialogue Americans must have about making healthier food choices.

In addition to using some of those funds to pay for the thousands of Americans recieving medical care for conditions that are caused or exasperated by the unhealthy food they put in their mouths, some of that money should be put toward education.

Teach children and adults how to make healthier choices all the time. Teach them the science behind why excessive consumption of sugary and fatty foods compounded over a lifetime can lead to obesity and adult on-set diabetes. Show them the reality of those diseases, which so many Americans are struggling and suffering with every day.

Teach them that even the most sugary of sodas are OK in moderation. Just like that apple pie.

That’s something we could all benefit from learning.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.