by David Safier
(TASL)
Nicholas Kristof has a great column this morning about a proposed 18% tax in New York on soft drinks with sugar and other nondiet sugary beverages.
The reasoning is, sugar water doesn't curb your appetite. It actually increases it. So sugared beverages are as much or more of a contributor to obesity as, say, Twinkies, which at least fill you up a bit.
If sugared beverages cost more than water or diet drinks, people won't drink as many. They'll consume fewer calories, which will lower their weight. Kristof compares it to increased cigarette taxes, which did more to lower the rates of lung cancer than all the anti-smoking campaigns combined.
A sin tax on sugar water. I like that. I know, I know, lots of overweight people chug diet drinks and still gain weight. It won't solve the country's growing problems with obesity, but if it keeps a few pounds off people, especially younger people, and lowers the rate of diabetes, that's something.
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