Sugar Tax | Senate Leaders Consider Taxing Soft Drinks

Is sugar another sin?

Liquor tax, tobacco tax, gas tax — could sugar tax be next? Some senators are throwing around the idea of slapping a tax onto sugary soft drinks, hence the moniker “sugar tax.”

Although the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other media outlets are raising a bit of alarm over the subject, it’ll be quite a while before any such legislation is anywhere near implementation, if it ever materializes at all.

Beyond soda

Reuters explains that some Senate leaders today will hear testimony today from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. But the center thinks more than just soda should be taxed. From Reuters:

One idea is to levy the tax on all sugary beverages, which would include the ones that the industry has successfully camouflaged as health drinks: energy drinks and ”sports” beverages—like Pepsico’s Gatorade and Coca-Cola’s Powerade Coke’s VitaminWater, Kraft’s Capri Sun “juice drink,” and the like.

I have a friend who’d need instant payday loans to support her VitaminWater habit if they start taxing it. But I digress.

Why pick on Gatorade?

Popularity of energy drinks is growing as carbonated soda drinks are becoming less popular. Because Gatorade, VitaminWater and its cousins have roughly the same amount of sugar as sodas, lobbying for the same tax on these beverages makes sense.

No doubt the lobbyist will want to include the hip, hyper-caffeinated drinks such as Rock Star, Monster and Red Bull.

A skeptical tone

Dan Mitchell, of The Big Money, doesn’t seem to think that today’s hearing is likely to lead anywhere. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Sugar Tax | Senate Leaders Consider Taxing Soft Drinks"