Lawmaker Urges Soda Pop Tax to Slim Fat Kids California Senator Says, 'Americans Have Lost Sight of Moderation' Reuters SACRAMENTO, Calif. (March 29) - A California lawmaker has proposed slapping a tax on popular soft drinks to help reduce rocketing rates of childhood obesity. The bill proposed by state Sen. Deborah Ortiz -- one of the first in the nation to target sugary sodas as a root cause of kids putting on too many pounds -- would offer schools incentives to drop lucrative contracts to sell certain soda brands on their campuses. ''It is not my intention to demonize soda,'' Ortiz, a Democrat from Sacramento, said in a statement sent on Wednesday, adding that moderate soda pop consumption was not harmful. ''The problem is that Americans have lost sight of moderation, and fail to recognize how many additional calories soda adds to their diets.'' A number of U.S. states, including Arkansas, Virginia and Washington, currently impose excise taxes on soft drinks. But most use the proceeds to fight litter, not the ''epidemic'' of overweight children in U.S. schools. Ortiz's bill, due to be taken up by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on April 10, would charge manufacturers and distributors 21 cents per 1 gallon of bottled drinks and $2 per gallon of syrup used to create soft drinks in soda fountains. Consumers could be expected to absorb the additional cost, about two cents per 12-ounce can, according to Ortiz, a Democrat who represents Sacramento. The bill would raise an estimated $342 million a year, about half of which would be used to fund school health programs as well as after-school activities which some school districts now pay for with money earned through exclusive soft drink sales agreements. The rest of the money would be used to fund public health and childhood obesity prevention programs outside of school. BILL CONTROVERSIAL The bill has generated controversy in Sacramento as beverage industry representatives and some Republican lawmakers accuse Ortiz of ''demonizing'' popular soft drinks and pushing government too far into the lives of school children and their parents. ''The senator's desire to improve the health of children in California is commendable. The problem is her approach is misguided,'' said Sean McBride, spokesman for the National Soft Drink Association in Washington, D.C.. ''It is too simplistic to say that if we just ban or restrict certain foods in the diet, then our children will be healthy and obesity will go away.'' Ortiz's bill is among the latest efforts by state lawmakers to battle rising obesity in California children -- many of whom have been offered a menu of sweet drinks and high-fat foods at their school cafeterias. Physical exams conducted by schools last year showed that 30 percent of California children in the fifth, seventh and ninth grades are overweight, reflecting national trends which show that over the last 20 years, the overweight and obesity rates among U.S. children have doubled while the number of overweight adolescents has almost tripled. Many public health specialists target soft drinks as a primary culprit. An average can of soda has about 150 calories and overall soft drink consumption has almost doubled over the past 20 years. Health educators worry that the rise in child obesity levels spells trouble ahead as these children mature into overweight adults more at risk for developing diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses. Last year California's state legislature passed a new law aimed at limiting the availability of ''junk food'' in elementary and middle schools, and this month a Democratic state assemblywoman proposed adding an additional ''junk food tax'' to help pay for children's dental care. Both the junk food and soft drink tax proposals come as a growing number of U.S. states look for new ways to boost flagging state revenues, including raising so-called ''sin'' taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.
This proposed tax would be so dumb.. I can understand that people don't understand nutrition and how many calories they should take in per day, but for the love of god, put a tax on mcdonalds before this. I have been trying to get into single digit body fat for a long time. I am almost there. I did this by going on a low calorie diet, about 1800 per day. I was stuck at 169 lbs for a while and now im about 165 and I only have done this diet for about 2 and a half weeks. The average male should take in between 2000-2700 calories a day depending on his height and how active he is. The average female should take in 1600-1900 a day. Drinking 3 cokes a day uses up about 450 calories a day unless you go to diet drinks which have virtually no calories. I like Diet Dr. Pepper even though I have been trying to stay away from carbonated drinks.
The statement by Senator Ortiz, "The problem is that Americans have lost sight of moderation..." is absolutely frightening to me. Thanks for looking over my shoulder and taking care of me, Ms. Ortiz!!! Who cares that I enjoy Dr. Pepper....just like my mom, you'll come along and tell me I can't have one before supper. Great...just what I want from a government. The hypocrisy from both sides of the political spectrum is laughable at times...Ms. Ortiz is pro-choice...she wants you to have the choice of abortion but not the choice to enjoy your soda. So she's willing to make it more expensive to you (putting an industry that employs thousands in a bind as well) because she knows best.
I swear to god if this goes through Mrs. Ortiz is going to be in a lot of pain. You might say, " Hey, that sounds kinda of harsh Drew." Well, its meant to be. Dr. Pepper is the greatest soda of all time and if I have to pay two more cents a can, I will be out like a $100 a year . I could of spent that money on charity, or say a couple of new playstation2 games. But no, I have to spend it on Fat kids. Its not my fault some fatty cant control his Dr. Pepper drinking habbits and work out at the same time. I drink like a 6 pack a day, but I still am not overweight. This is a dumb idea and should not even be considered. FATTYS
This probably won't pass, nor would it really do anything if it were - much like tobacco taxes, etc. I do, however, think that the big companies should somehow be discouraged from entering schools and basically turning them into social experimentation. That would be the only thing I would be in favor of trying to limit. Max, I understand your take and analogy, but do you think that it is a health issue/problem? Again, I agree with you...I am just curious.
Yeah this is pretty dumb. First of all, I don't have kids and don't plan to ever have kids. I know it's only two cents a can, but why should I have to pay just because parents don't want to prepare thier kids healthy meals. I already have to pay $3.50 for a pack of ciggs, now I have to pay more for a soda because mommy and daddy's want to order pizza 3 times a week and have big bags of cheetos in thier home? Also, how many sodas can a kid drink during a lunch period at school? I hear from kids all the time that they get 30 minutes for lunch and half the time is spent in lines. If sodas are the problem it's not the single soda that they have to gulp down in a hurry at school, it's the 2 to 3 sodas at home that is the problem. I know to alot of people children are the world to them, but I'm getting tired of my life being altered because parents don't want to take care of thier kids.
maybe if i bring my own bottle to the gas station... they will let me pour the water from the evian bottle into mine for free?
You'll stop getting fat kids when the parents stop feeding them unhealthy diets. This isn't a tax issue, its a parenting issue.
Ortiz's bill is among the latest efforts by state lawmakers to battle rising obesity in California children -- many of whom have been offered a menu of sweet drinks and high-fat foods at their school cafeterias. Instead of taxing the consumer, why not just make school cafeterias (at least at younger levels) only serve milk/water/healthystuff? Since schools are already government-funded, this seems an easier and more reasonable solution.
No kidding... school cafeteria food has to be some of the worst around. If anyone is in high school now, I challenge you to find anything healthy at all in that line. And if there is, it's probably nasty compared to the other stuff. (at least burgers and fries are hard to mess up too badly) All those fat grams in the food and then they blame it on the drinks. They didn't put soda machines in our high school because it wasn't "healthy". They put juice machines there instead (though, depending what you got, a lot of it was just sugar water). This meant I had to haul my own Diet Coke to school every day.
rimbaud -- sure I think people need to exercise and eat better...me, included. But I have no problem with you wanting to put anything in your body as long as it's not an illegal substance. Until they outlaw caffeine, I don't want to see this social engineering put into place...I don't want the government helping shape what food/drink I have on my table each night.
