No soda for you
Actually, the headline would be "no pop for you" if I was writing in Canada. And parts of the US. But since I'm writing in New York I'll bow to the local preference. In any case, the topic at hand is the tax on non-diet soft drinks as proposed by New York governor David Paterson. He proposes a 15 percent surchage - in part to raise revenue and in part to encourage people to find something else to drink.
I do believe Paterson is onto something. A few years ago, our morning reporter at NY1, Roger Clark, lost a lot of his extra weight and it became very apparent on TV. He was asked about it, and said one of his first changes on his diet was to eliminate the Big Gulp-sized soda he was typically drinking.
But -- doesn't it seem particularly random? A Coke is taxed but a cupcake is not? A Dr. Pepper is evil but Diet Dr. Pepper is somehow now a health drink? It will be interesting to see if someone comes up with a way to apply this idea more broadly rather than just targeting a single vice.
But -- doesn't it seem particularly random? A Coke is taxed but a cupcake is not? A Dr. Pepper is evil but Diet Dr. Pepper is somehow now a health drink? It will be interesting to see if someone comes up with a way to apply this idea more broadly rather than just targeting a single vice.
Labels: David Paterson, Diet, Pop, Soda, tax
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