Soda tax

Is overindulgence a sin?

26 May 2010 -- You've seen them... The giant containers filled with 64 ounces or more of Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew or some other soda. You might have been the unlucky person standing behind the construction worker or office addict at the soda fountain as the big guzzler filled up three or four of these.

They are Utah's answer to the three-martini lunch. And some people believe the often sugary, usually highly caffeinated sodas and sports drinks should be taxed along with alcohol and tobacco. Here, those are called "sin taxes"; elsewhere, they're justified by citing the costs of treating diseases and injuries linked to excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and chewing.

It's hard to equate soda addiction with sin, but heavy soda pop drinkers are often just that -- heavy. And obesity, fueled by high-sugar foods, including soda, is becoming as much a drain on health care as tobacco and alcohol-related diseases like cancer and cirrhosis. A 64-ounce Coke, spiked with cherry or vanilla flavorings, is a nutritional cipher. Worse, a couple of those a day could lead to diabetes, obesity-related heart disease or stroke.

A soda tax might discourage such overindulgence and could also help alleviate the pain of another national ailment: the economic recession.

That's why 17 states and a number of cities are considering taxing soda. It probably would never fly in Utah, where a majority of legislators are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which eschews alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee and whose followers often turn to soft drinks as an alternative.

But taxing soda and perhaps other unhealthy snacks and fast food makes as much sense as a way to encourage better nutrition as taxing alcohol and tobacco to discourage their use. And it could be a gold mine of potential revenue for education, which in Utah is chronically underfunded.

In Washington, D.C., a city councilwoman proposed a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on soda and estimated it could generate $6 million to $9 million in its first year. The beverage industry, which argues that such a tax unfairly targets a specific product and wouldn't change anyone's behavior, opposed the idea and it was defeated. But other cities and states could join Washington state in applying a tax to soft drinks. Some Utah legislators discussed a soda tax this year, but it didn't go far in an anti-tax election year.

With new research supporting a link between sugary drinks and obesity, now could be the time for Utah to add soft drink addiction to its list of sins that should be taxed.