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[Manmademan]

Whole milk could make for a decent meal replacement if you're literally at the point of "I can only afford soda for my calories."

no one ever is at that point. There's any number of options that are cheaper than a bottle of soda is that actually have some kind of nutritional value.

if you're subsisting only on doctor pepper you'd die of any number of insane ailments from malnourishment within a month.

 

[haxamin]

I dont think any credible body denies that less people would drink sodas. The evidence we should look out for is if consumers substitute it for equally/unhealthy items.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

If you don't drink it when your young you are likely to not like it as you get older anyways. Nothing wrong with trying it or not having it though

 

[thehypocrite]

Should be a tax on added sugar, to all food products - not on carbonated drinks per se.

And should be higher.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

Only slightly related, but: If people ban or tax all the convenient/delicious/unhealthy stuff out of my reach then how am I expected to be able to waste my life?

 

[thehypocrite]

Only slightly related, but: If people ban or tax all the convenient/delicious/unhealthy stuff out of my reach then how am I expected to be able to waste my life?

Video games.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

Video games.

Already on it. But what if they ban those too or find some way to limit my enjoyment of them?

I swear, if the government tries to make me a productive member of society then I will do my damnedest to lower not just my productivity but other people's, out of spite.

 

[LegendofJoe]

Good, that's the entire point of the tax in the first place.

 

[Orin GA]

Did putting calories on the McDonald Menu hurt there business?

 

[entremet]

Did putting calories on the McDonald Menu hurt there business?

Hard to tell if that was it, which I think was only in certain jurisdiction, or the rise of Fast Casual chains, which offer comparatively priced food at better quality.

 

[el jacko]

So are cigarettes taxes. You think the rich are smoking at a higher rate than less wealthy income brackets?

The purpose here is to improve public health as well.

You can't improve public health without making the improvements easier to access, then.

If soda and cigarette taxes paid for subsidies on vegetables, or helped sponsor grocers in food deserts, that's great! That would be a great policy.

 

[entremet]

You can't improve public health without making the improvements easier to access, then.

If soda and cigarette taxes paid for subsidies on vegetables, or helped sponsor grocers in food deserts, that's great! That would be a great policy.

No disagreements here. US food policy is a disaster on many levels.

 

[AlteredBeast]

My wife's sister gives it to her 4 and 3-year-old kids. It's incredible.

What a monster!! Has Child Protective Services been called yet!?

 

[Brandon F]

My wife's sister gives it to her 4 and 3-year-old kids. It's incredible.

This is painful to read.

 

[Two Words]

All this does is make things harder for poor people. If you're really trying to limit soda consumption, you should given all citizens a fixed amount of untraceable soda credits that they may use to buy soda and that would be the only way to buy soda.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

All this does is make things harder for poor people. If you're really trying to limit soda consumption, you should given all citizens a fixed amount of untraceable soda credits that they may use to buy soda and that would be the only way to buy soda.

Do what Finland does for alcohol and limit the sale of soda to special government run soda fountains.

No bottles, you can only drink what you get there. No unlimited refills.

 

[tcrunch]

no one ever is at that point. There's any number of options that are cheaper than a bottle of soda is that actually have some kind of nutritional value.

if you're subsisting only on doctor pepper you'd die of any number of insane ailments from malnourishment within a month.

I sometimes work with food reporting data for what my institution calls "low resource populations" (poor people). My impression from reading their food reports is that they have no idea about calories or anything like that, but drinking soda makes them feel relatively satisfied and also all the advertisements tell them soda is great. I have read multiple reports where the only things the person consumes all day are a) soda and one of some kind of sandwich, or b) soda/coffee/fast food. The first type of person has almost no money to buy food and they choose to buy soda. The second type of person probably has a job and is looking for fullness (hence the fast food), and the ability to keep going through a long work day and commute (so they go for high caffeine). I have read these reports for people with families, pregnant women, etc.

The food reports also ask questions about supplements, snake oil products, "enzymes", and that kind of thing. Poor people love buying these things because we have zero protection against ads that tell them these products will help them get through their day.

Advertising is FAR more influential over people's food choices than someone going on the internet and learning about calories or the nutritional value/economic cost-benefit analysis of soda. Poor people are not going on the internet for this.

 

[Goodstyle]

Sure. There are significant negative externalities for soda drinking and the tax better helps the market reflect the true cost. I think the tax should be ten feet higher.

I think manipulating the tax code is one of the better ways to discourage undesirable behavior. On the other hand, this is clearly a regressive tax that ultimately hurts poor people most.

This sounds vaguely totalitarian though.

 

[ClosingADoor]

All this does is make things harder for poor people. If you're really trying to limit soda consumption, you should given all citizens a fixed amount of untraceable soda credits that they may use to buy soda and that would be the only way to buy soda.

Poor people can't drink water?

 

[DriftingSpirit]

I dropped soda about 4 years ago and haven't drunk any since. I tried drinking some about 6 months after I started and got nauseous. I drink water for the most part with milk and juice thrown in here and there.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Even sugar free variants?

 

[Two Words]

Poor people can't drink water?

Why make these kinds of laws that are supposed to adjust behavior if it only adjusts the behavior of poor people?

 

[Asmodai48]

I didn't know people had trouble drinking water?

 

[wvnative]

Only slightly related, but: If people ban or tax all the convenient/delicious/unhealthy stuff out of my reach then how am I expected to be able to waste my life?

This, basically.

So much demonizing of joyful things we should be thankful we are alive at a time at which things like soda can be made and enjoyed.

I'm not poor, but I choose to drink it cause it brings me joy.

I must be the devil.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Why make these kinds of laws that are supposed to adjust behavior if it only adjusts the behavior of poor people?

Because a tax like this is the easiest way to have the people using it pay for it. As with all taxes on products, yes, it will hit people who have less to spent more. So we need to balance that with some subsidies and such on other things.

 

[Messofanego]

Worked with cigarettes, no surprise.

Sure. There are significant negative externalities for soda drinking and the tax better helps the market reflect the true cost. I think the tax should be ten feet higher.

I think manipulating the tax code is one of the better ways to discourage undesirable behavior. On the other hand, this is clearly a regressive tax that ultimately hurts poor people most.

What happens if poor people or anyone really don't drink soda as much? It's not like soda is a necessity in life. There are other sources of fluid.

 

[Messofanego]

We all know making healthier foods cheaper is the ultimate goal, so these are just baby steps.

 

[Juicy Bob]

I would like to see it introduced in the UK, but I rarely drink soft drinks, so I admit it wouldn't really hit me at all.

 

[Shanlei91]

Of course soda is not great to consume in any serious quantity.

Certain people who struggle to drink water, who have trouble digesting food without painful gas, who have no other source of calories, who have low blood sugar, drink soda in moderate quantities. Did it never occur to you that someone might drink soda because they can't afford a meal?

As someone who grew up taking ketchup packets from McDonalds to use on pasta night, I find this to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen said about poor people.

 

[Giant Panda]

In a socialized health system these taxes are necessary. Otherwise, everyone else will have to pay for obese people's poor choices.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

this is stupid

Spoiler

-cola addict

 

[Disxo]

I dropped soda about 4 years ago and haven't drunk any since. I tried drinking some about 6 months after I started and got nauseous. I drink water for the most part with milk and juice thrown in here and there.

Yup, me too, my teeth are pretty happy now

 

[JinjoUnchained]

Of course, artificially increasing the cost of anything will lower demand, if all other factors remain equal. Why is this news?

 

[Orthogonal]

Of course, artificially increasing the cost of anything will lower demand, if all other factors remain equal. Why is this news?

It's news to Buzzfeed. No one expects them to understand econ 101.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Meh didn't stop me in Philly I don't drink it much but every once in awhile an ice cold Pepsi hits the spot with dinner. Drive right on up to willow Grove,Bala Cynwyd etc

 

[sturgboski]

Any idea what the tax revenue good to? Is the revenue earmarked for any programs, like healthcare and the like?

As a soda and beer drinker, this would affect me, but I like the concept especially if the revenue is also put to use for health initiatives.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

I think all calories should be taxed, and the revenue collected should be rebated back to the population. That way, those who eat less than average (aka healthy) would earn money, those who eat about average wouldn't lose any money, but those who eat a lot would pay up. The rebate should be adjusted for gender, age, height etc. and maybe tax calories from protein a bit less than the other sources to subsidize body builders.

 

[Two Words]

I think all calories should be taxed, and the revenue collected should be rebated back to the population. That way, those who eat less than average (aka healthy) would earn money, those who eat about average wouldn't lose any money, but those who eat a lot would pay up. The rebate should probably be adjusted for gender, age, height etc. and maybe tax calories from protein a bit less than the other sources to subsidize body builders.

That happens when you buy more or less food.....

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Soda hurts poor people the most. The question is which is worse, a tax or more access?

 

[louiedog]

I stopped drinking soda after graduating high school and having to start paying for things myself. It's not expensive, but when I had little money, more expenses and things I wanted I stopped buying less junk. Now I drink a soda maybe once a month or so and usually only when offered one somewhere. I hardly ever buy it myself. I still like some sodas, but they're of little nutritional value and full of sugar so I treat them like I would an ice cream or cookie.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

That happens when you buy more or less food.....

Nope, some calories are cheaper than others. That's why a 400 calorie healthy salad is more expensive than a 700 calorie hamburger, and drink refills are free.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

No make Water tax exempt and we can all start getting cheap water

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

this is stupid

Spoiler

-cola addict

Not a cola addict.

Still stupid

 

[Manmademan]

No make Water tax exempt and we can all start getting cheap water

water IS tax exempt.

I sometimes work with food reporting data for what my institution calls "low resource populations" (poor people). My impression from reading their food reports is that they have no idea about calories or anything like that, but drinking soda makes them feel relatively satisfied and also all the advertisements tell them soda is great. I have read multiple reports where the only things the person consumes all day are a) soda and one of some kind of sandwich, or b) soda/coffee/fast food. The first type of person has almost no money to buy food and they choose to buy soda. The second type of person probably has a job and is looking for fullness (hence the fast food), and the ability to keep going through a long work day and commute (so they go for high caffeine). I have read these reports for people with families, pregnant women, etc.

The food reports also ask questions about supplements, snake oil products, "enzymes", and that kind of thing. Poor people love buying these things because we have zero protection against ads that tell them these products will help them get through their day.

Advertising is FAR more influential over people's food choices than someone going on the internet and learning about calories or the nutritional value/economic cost-benefit analysis of soda. Poor people are not going on the internet for this.

not sure why you responded to me, because you were responding to arguments I didn't make.

That one (insane) poster was throwing up a bizarre hypothetical example where a person who is poor and starving to death but suffering from a medical condition where he could not eat food AND was inexplicably averse to water would have no choice but to drink coca cola to stay alive as there were no other food options at that price point.

This hypothetical is so insane it's not even worth the time to address it. No one is ever at this point, because cheaper options exist than soda which ACTUALLY have nutritional value- and advertising preventing awareness wouldnt stop them from taking advantage of this. Milk alone fits the bill. So do generic cans of soup. Chugging mountain dew to live is a bizarre proposition that will never, ever happen.

That being said, addressing the rest of your post, I don't disagree re: the effectiveness of advertising. in the 60s and 70s poor people were still a thing, but the drink of choice for most people was either milk or water. Soda didn't blow up until television advertising did in the 80s.

You can't ban soda advertising (well..not in any practical sense) but tax policy has been shown to be an EXTREMELY effective hammer at undoing the effect of shitty advertising on the poor. Look at the rates of smoking between the 70s and 80s and present day- smoking has been reduced to an activity enjoyed by only a small minority of the population- not because big tobacco can't advertise anymore (they still do- though not on TV) but because cigarettes have been hit with massive taxes pretty much everywhere.

The same will probably be true for soda when the Philadelphia experiment succeeds, which is why the industry is fighting so hard against it.

 

[Malakai]

What happen when a person is literally sleeping under a bridge or in a shelter without access to a refrigerator? Milk will spoil under those types of conditions and water would be a waste of money. Fruit juices taste like crap at room temperature. I don't see the point of micromanaging what people consume.

 

[Persona7]

I don't mind paying a little bit more for the rare non-aspartame sweetened soda I drink.

 

[Seirith]

I think all calories should be taxed, and the revenue collected should be rebated back to the population. That way, those who eat less than average (aka healthy) would earn money, those who eat about average wouldn't lose any money, but those who eat a lot would pay up. The rebate should be adjusted for gender, age, height etc. and maybe tax calories from protein a bit less than the other sources to subsidize body builders.

How would that work? Sounds like a nightmare and a lot of government control. No thanks. Also,sime people who are healthy can eat a ton of food and not gain weight.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

How would that work? Sounds like a nightmare and a lot of government control. No thanks. Also,sime people who are healthy can eat a ton of food and not gain weight.

I don't see why healthy people with good metabolisms should get to avoid suffering with the rest of us.

 

[dc3k]

"I can't control my eating habits so now the government has to tax everyone so I don't accidentally kill myself"

Fat people ruin everything.

 

[Lkr]

Personal responsibility would go a long way also.

Hey man. Just thinking that means you're well on your way to reduce your soda intake. I need to cut down on it myself. Finally found a balance that makes me not gain weight and if I cut out soda and other shit I think I'd gradually lose some.

But yeah, it's too fucking tempting when you see a good deal.

Fwiw I don't drink a lot of soda I just wanted a treat and needed some caffeine to help for a test.
Personal responsibility is cool and all but people have legit soda addictions. Shit one could argue that the population has been lied to by corporations and the government for decades about the real damage done by soda and sugar. But sure, personal responsibility does go a long way