Ken Masters
Banned
The tide is shifting on aspartame too. I just noticed this recently:
General Mills is actually advertising their yogurt is aspartame free.
I saw that, know me of scary
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Berkeley passes the first ever tax on soda
- Thread starter Guevara
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I saw that, know me of scary
the macchiato isnt taxed, the syrup they use in the macchiato is taxed.
PseudoKirby
Banned
thats like half of the fucking price, I hope this doesnt happen.
instead of making the sugary drinks expensive WHY DONT YOU MAKE HEALTHIER OPTIONS CHEAPER?!
Bottled Water is essentially THE SAME PRICE as soda in most cases.
instead of making the sugary drinks expensive WHY DONT YOU MAKE HEALTHIER OPTIONS CHEAPER?!
Bottled Water is essentially THE SAME PRICE as soda in most cases.
Shogmaster
Member
Cane sugar is just as bad as HFCS.
Shogmaster
Member
For those who don't know the science behind this, this is a must watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFyF9px20Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFyF9px20Y
For what it's worth: Oakland (and San Francisco, and New York) already have some of the best tap water in the country.
Why anyone is drinking bottled water regularly is beyond me.
Well, not all places have the same quality water.
AdventureRacing
Member
I'm glad they're doing something though this isn't going nearly far enough (soda is just one thing contributing to obesity problems). They'll have to go much further if they actually want to address the problem.
Problem is that this doesn't just affect you and your own home. Obesity is a problem that affects everyone, it costs the health care system billions of dollars and puts a huge strain on the medical industry.
As for how it will impact the poor, hopefully they will go for diet drinks or perhaps not drink it at all.
Problem is that this doesn't just affect you and your own home. Obesity is a problem that affects everyone, it costs the health care system billions of dollars and puts a huge strain on the medical industry.
As for how it will impact the poor, hopefully they will go for diet drinks or perhaps not drink it at all.
Shogmaster
Member
Your health is dependent on how long you sustain a sugar heavy diet. So you are paying for your future ills.
You're missing something big here; there is no alternative to smoking. Aside from vaping, fags are fags so if you want to smoke that's your only option.
But soft drinks are in competition with OTHER, healthier drinks. And now that coke and the like have a price disadvantage, there will be people who go after the cheaper option.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
The government can't force businesses to set prices. It can artificially lower prices through subsidies, but that's why soda is so inexpensive in the first place. They can't really subsidize water.
What governments can do is levy fines fees and taxes to encourage, discourage, or take advantage of certain behaviors. That's what this is.
This is not an example of nanny state activity, the government is not telling you that you can't drink soda whenever or wherever you want. The government is taxing a consumer good, just like the do with clothing, gasoline, hair gel, and anything else you care to mention.
If you don't want to pay an extra tax on soda make your own.
No, they don't. Stop spreading misinformation.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Has the overstimulation of the tongue tasting sweetness causing insulin to enter the blood and cause insulin resistance over time been disproven?
Soda is heavily subsidized. There's a reason why it's so cheap.
It's tax exempt in many states and uses corn syrup for sweetener now, and corn is heavily subsidized.
In many cases a soda tax would actually be the only tax soda has.
PseudoKirby
Banned
yea well Concord, which is like 20 miles from Oakland has some shitty as tap water.
CyclopsRock
Member
I think for most people, drinking bottled water isn't about quality but rather convenience. Buying the water when you need it is more convenient than carrying a bottle with you (and in some instances that's simply not viable).
What? Plenty of people don't even drink tap in their own house at this point, opting instead for the $4 24-pack of SomeBrand bottled water.
There's a belief that tap water is disgusting and dirty.
Jacksinthe
Banned
That's not what triggers your pancreas B cells to create insulin. You might as well say working out can cause diabetes since stress and strain on the body triggers your liver to release stored glucose in the bloodstream triggering your pancreas to release insulin.
As someone who is a type 1 diabetic and was diagnosed with cancer on my birthday this year I can guarantee you that my taste buds had nothing to do with it just like working out doesn't.
For anyone interested: I had the tumor and a bunch of lymph nodes removed shortly after diagnosis. Just doing my thing and hopefully in another 5 years I'll be given the all clear.
For the record: I always ate right and exercised. Was very fit until Hashimoto's disease threw a left hook. Little did it know I hit back and a lot harder
Topic: I am unsure how to feel about the tax, personally. This precedent simply says its OK to not educate people on proper health and just tighten the financial grip on them, instead. Very dangerous. I can't recall a single instance of anyone developing diabetes from a can of pop when taken in moderation. The problem is educating people about moderation and healthier choices. As mentioned earlier, people still smoke even with higher taxes so it won't solve anything adding a sugar tax, IMO. Just my .02
CyclopsRock
Member
I'm not sure where you're from, but there are cases where this tap water actually is disgusting and dirty - I was surprised at first when I started going to our Spanish office to see them all drinking from water bottles, but for them it's just a part of how they live, because the tap water's basically only good for cleaning.
Gabriel_Logan
Member
Is soda really that bad for you? I have a bottle of Mountain Dew a day.
NJ and NYC. The tap here is fine. It's people being stupid and classist.
CyclopsRock
Member
Fair enough. I live somewhere with excellent drinking water and that's certainly not my experience - some people have bottles at home purely because there's no other practical way of having cold water otherwise. But the person I was quoting said "why anyone drinks bottled water..." - it's clearly not the case that quality is the issue for everyone, and I have no reason to think that it's the case for most people, either.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
There was a potentially lethal germ in the water where I lived in Arizona. There are places that you can't drink the tap water.
metalslimer
Member
Take the amount of sugar listed and and actually weight it out and you realize how bad it actually is
nephilimdj
Member
While not sure about soda, i do support it being put on juice with added sugar
Its insane that they add sugar to already sugar high juice. 200gram+ of sugar in 2litres, crazy
Its insane that they add sugar to already sugar high juice. 200gram+ of sugar in 2litres, crazy
the taxes help pay carry the medical costs though(here in sweden they do atleast). That a good enough reason if you ask me.
Suikoguy
I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Soda like Cigarettes and Alcohol have negative externalities, I'm surprised it's taken this long for any type of tax to exist.
I will say the degree of the negative effect is up for debate.
To those saying that cigarette taxes have not helped, I'd disagree. I think it has contributed in no insignificant degree to more people stopping smoking. I wish the tax was used almost exclusively to subsidize health and well being though.
I will say the degree of the negative effect is up for debate.
To those saying that cigarette taxes have not helped, I'd disagree. I think it has contributed in no insignificant degree to more people stopping smoking. I wish the tax was used almost exclusively to subsidize health and well being though.
Bumping because I don't think making a new thread with this update would get too much attention, so I'll just add it here:
That is quite a big chunk of money for one city in only one month! The tax is 1 cent per ounce... a ridiculously huge amount of sugary drinks in that span of time.
I'm in Berkeley and I haven't seen the prices of sodas go up since the law passed... in fact they are cheaper than in San Francisco in most stores. There is a Walgreens I frequent in SF that charges $1.99 (!!!) for a 20oz... ridiculous.
The tax is on the distributor, not on retail sales, so they'd have to raise prices on the drinks to offset the tax, assuming they are willing to do that.
That is quite a big chunk of money for one city in only one month! The tax is 1 cent per ounce... a ridiculously huge amount of sugary drinks in that span of time.
I'm in Berkeley and I haven't seen the prices of sodas go up since the law passed... in fact they are cheaper than in San Francisco in most stores. There is a Walgreens I frequent in SF that charges $1.99 (!!!) for a 20oz... ridiculous.
The tax is on the distributor, not on retail sales, so they'd have to raise prices on the drinks to offset the tax, assuming they are willing to do that.
FriedConsole
Banned
I thought this was about the health of the consituants? Oh it is really about lawmakers wanting more money? Suprised. This is like the speed trap town saying they are ticketing for "saftey".
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Going to the general fund makes me worried that it's going to be frittered away on useless projects. Either way, though, tax revenue is somewhat fungible so it might not matter anyway.
A problem that sometimes happened with cigarette taxes is that initially the revenue is good and funds various government projects/departments/initiatives/etc, but since the point of a cigarette tax is to lower consumption, eventually when the consumption does lower, so does the tax revenue. And then, if those said projects were to reliant on the cigarette tax, they become put in a bind.
A problem that sometimes happened with cigarette taxes is that initially the revenue is good and funds various government projects/departments/initiatives/etc, but since the point of a cigarette tax is to lower consumption, eventually when the consumption does lower, so does the tax revenue. And then, if those said projects were to reliant on the cigarette tax, they become put in a bind.
They are allocating a panel of experts to decide how to spend the money. It's been suggested that half of it go to schools to support the gardening and cooking programs. But it looks like all these choices are still up in the air.
We'll know more when they decide how to spend it.
Hopefully they can make a difference with these extra funds, but i'm a huge doubter. I feel the same way about San Francisco's stupid bag tax. You have to pay 10 cents for a bag even at fast food restaurants.
The idea is they want people to stop using 1-use bags and promote people to use reusable bags. But who carries around bags suitable for carrying french fries? Your bag would be filthy real quick. You'd spend more resources cleaning the bag regularly than what the paper bags use I'd wager.
Great job, Berkeley. In fact, why stop here? Obviously, we need a large tax on all candy, baked goods, red meat, potato chips and the like. Let's also heavily tax all TV, video gsme console and desktop computer sales, as well as TV and internet service; after all, studies have shown how bad for your health sitting around and staring at a screen is.
Your first sentence is inconsistent with your second paragraph.
If the revenue was designated to specific projects, the specific projects can become reliant on people engaging in the sin tax behavior.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
That's what the second sentence is for.
... actually, vice taxes are a proven concept that has been around half a century.
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