Outline Of A Sweetened Beverage Tax Act

More than 35% of American adults are obese and as a consequence, are at increased risks for health issues such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes ("Overweight & Obesity"). The U.S. taxpayer is supplementing much of the cost to treat obesity related health issues through public health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid ("Economic Costs"). A positive externality will occur in the form of decreased health care expenditures on Medicare and Medicaid. The U.S. government should impose an excise tax on soda and other beverages that contain sugar. Consumers who drink excess sugary beverages impose a negative internality on their health; as well as imposing a negative externality on the American

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) the health of the people in the United States has not always been the greatest. With an obesity rate of 33.9 percent, which translates into over 106 million obese Americans, this has caused many problems to arise and impact the daily lives of Americans. Many have tried to help in regards to this issue by improving school foods or attempting to encourage more physical activity. Unfortunately, these may have helped but only in a small scale. However, a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Mark Bittman believes that he may have a definitive solution. On May 25, 2016, in “Taxing Sugar to Fund a City” New York Times food journalist, Mark Bittman, by using the taxing of sugary beverages in Philadelphia - America’s poorest big city - earnestly

1999). Sugar plays a huge role in the growing obesity levels. The largest source of added sugar in the US diet is sugary drinks. A recent study found that body weight significantly lowered when sugar intake was decreased. While an increased sugar intake led to a similar weight gain. This study also found that children whom consumed sugary drinks had a 55% higher risk of obesity (Hu, 2013). The progression of obesity, added sugar being a main cause, and the billions of US dollars being spent on obesity related healthcare; I believe this act will be supported by the public.

Recently, people have become worried about the health issues associated with consuming sugary drinks, especially soda. The rate of people being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease has been going up primarily because of beverages with added sugar (Cited in Crawford, 2016). Several studies have found that soda is linked to over 180,000 deaths per year (Cited in Crawford, 2016). An article by the Huffington Post (2011) said that an average American drinks about 44.7 gallons of carbonated beverages a year, which adds up to over 350 pounds of soda. Comparatively, in 2005 an average American drank only 0.5 gallons, making soft drinks the most consumed beverage in America (n/a, 2011). The way the government is trying to fix

The purpose of this study was to investigate ethical issues associated with the prevention of obesity in America through eliminating Sugar-Sweetneed Beverages (SSB) in America. There were a total of 3 prevention stragies that were taken into consideration with this study: (1) "restricting the sale of SSBs in K-12 public schools", (2) implementing a significant tax" of $0.01 per an ounce or a 20% sale tax increase, (3) "prohibiting the use of Supplemental Nutrition Associated Program (SNAP; formerly food stamp programs) benefits for the purchase of SSBs." (Nancy Kass, Kenneth Hecht, Amy Paul, and Kenny Bimbach, 2014).

Sugary drinks are blamed for increasing the rates of chronic disease and obesity in America. Yet efforts to reduce their consumption through taxes or other measures have gone nowhere. The beverage industry has spent millions defeating them. - Robert Reich. This quote shows that while a sugary drink tax would be beneficial the beverage industry will do anything to stop it. This writer is in favor of a sugary drink tax even though it might be a tough tax to implement. The tax could be used to expand on healthy eating resources and education. The government could also use the added revenue to subsidize farmers who grow healthier options. Lower sugar consumption rates would make way for healthier lifestyles. Healthier lifestyles would lower obesity rates and in turn help lower insurance costs.

With a growing epidemic of obesity in America, some states and lawmakers have resorted to taking unconventional measures in order to counter the growing issue. Many legislators are debating the effectiveness of a “fat tax” would be on limiting the consumption of soda, high fat foods, and high sugar foods, and ultimately reducing the rate of morbidity and mortality due to obesity. The idea is that long term consumption of high fat, high sugar foods and drinks lead to many health problems, so making them more expensive and less accessible should decrease the health issues related to their consumption.

The latest attack on America’s expanding waistlines is aimed at your wallet, as health advocates and lawmakers hope to tax consumers out of drinking so many sugary drinks.In Philadelphia, which hosted last week's Democratic convention, a tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on sugary drinks, and even on artificially sweetened diet drinks, will go into effect in January — making it the first major city with a soda tax. Voter initiatives for similar taxes will be on the November ballot in Oakland, San Francisco and Albany, Calif., and likely in Boulder, Colo. A similar measure passed in Berkeley, Calif., in

Did you know that The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that between 1977 and 2002, the intake of sugary beverages doubled in all age groups? Half of adolescent young men drink more than two six-packs of soda pops each week. Kids in the U.S.from ages six to nineteen are three times as liable to be overweight as they were in 1970. Because of these realities, I have come to the conclusion that there should be a tax on sugary drinks.

I agree that despite the fact that sugary drinks leads to obesity and diabetes, the restaurateurs and retailers, including the transnational corporations such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and McDonalds, continue to oppose this legislation in order to increase their profits. Though New York has the 12th lowest obesity rate in the nation, the adult obesity rate has increased from 17.1 in 2000 to 27 percent currently.1 This proves that obesity is still on the rise and that it is about time to take actions to prevent the complications of obesity. However, limiting the size of a drink would not prevent obesity. The government cannot improve the health of an individual by limiting their food. Individuals have to choose their own lifestyle. Until the individual

Drinks that contain high fructose corn syrup and sugar are linked to an array of heath conditions including diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, and obesity. Obesity rates are increasing astronomically every year, yet little has been done to combat this problem. From these facts arises the desire for the tax on sugary drinks. Governments may not stand behind the tax, but they are willing to enact it because they need the money that the tax will earn. Extra money raised from the newly implemented taxes would go towards “cash-strapped local governments to fund early childhood education, public safety and deficit reduction” (O'Connor and Sangor-Katz). City governments coincidentally became interested in the soda tax when they realized where the tax payer’s dollar would go. The soda industry is dissatisfied with the government’s support for the soda tax. While they do not believe sugary drinks are increasing the obesity epidemic in the world, they are making a change. They are trying to make their drinks as healthy as possible. Ms. Neely, the president of the beverage association, encourages consumers to drink the diet or lower calorie options of products, while beverage companies continue to strive to reduce the sugar and calories in sugary

In October 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report proposing action against the consumption of sugary drinks by encouraging a tax on sweetened beverages. A rise in obesity and diabetes rates (“An economic tsunami: The cost of diabetes in Canada,” 2009) has inspired many proposals to curtail the popularity of sugary drinks, and as a result, France, Hungary, and Mexico are some of the many countries in recent years to have adopted sugary drinks taxes (Jones, Hammond & Veerman, 2017). The idea for countries to tax soda drinks to fight health problems has been met with controversy over whether such recommendations would beneficial, questioning its efficacy and impact on low socioeconomic communities.

Obesity is a world - wide issue that has detrimental effects on society and those that suffer from it. Due to the links from consumption of sugary food and beverages and obesity has led countries such as Hungary and France to implement sugar taxes. I personally support the idea of having sugary and unhealthy foods or beverages taxed. Throughout the course of this report I will analyse both sides of the argument; both for and against sugar taxes.

Economic costs of obesity are increasing and will continue to do so if nothing is done. Healthy Communities for A Healthy Future state that the estimated annual health care costs related to obesity are 190 billion dollars. This is 21% of total health care costs. This includes direct costs, such as preventive and treatment services, while indirect costs include income lost to days debilitated or future income lost to death. On an individual level, an obese person will cost 42% more in health care than a person of healthy weight. A tax directly related to products known to cause obesity would offset the cost of health care, and hopefully result in less obesity in the Nation.

36.5 Americans are considered to be obese (Adult obesity facts, 2016, September 1). This does not include the many more that are considered to be overweight. This breaks down to 35% of people are obese in 4 states, 30% in another 25 states, and all states have at least 20% of people being obese (Obesity rates and trends, 2016, September). These are staggering amounts.