Beverage tax

Hey all,

So, I was just watching television, and I saw an interesting ad about the supposed beverage tax. This tax would add a few pennies to the price of pop, sports beverages, energy drinks, and many juices and iced teas, but it would raise 14.9 billion dollars in its first year according to estimates. And, overall, it may just help in the fight against obesity. Ironically, in this country, the poor tend to be obese while the wealthy tend to be healthy. If this were enacted, it may just begin to curb this trend and get us on the right track towards healthy eating and living. Honestly, I'm in favor of this tax because these drinks have no nutritional value, yet they are ubiquitous and loaded with calories. For example, the main beverages at any restaurant are likely to be soda, either in the form of Coke or Pepsi products. Honestly, I don't think this idea is ridiculous at all.

However, the funny thing is that, tonight, I saw a commercial opposed to this tax because these drinks are used to feed families and the pennies can add up to a lot for the average family. But, how much does the average family drink pop, energy drinks, or sports beverages? I can't imagine that it would amount to much more than a dollar a week in extra taxes if they consumed a lot of these drinks. I think that in this case, it's time we took a step towards health instead of away from it.

P.S. Diet drinks would not be taxed.