Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I guess too many people working remotely has cut down their collection from the Philly wage tax so they had to make up the revenue shortfall somehow.....
It says they're taxing diet soda too. The major complaint I've heard about diet soda is that people think they're being good drinking it, so they think they can get away with eating more junk food.
So, I think in order for it to be fair, they should put a surtax on all diet foods and drinks. If someone feels virtuous drinking diet soda, then they will feel just as virtuous choosing to drink water or unsweetened tea or coffee. So tax them all. Otherwise, this is just ridiculous.
If you accept the idea that the government should or can tax cigarettes to discourage smoking, you ought to be okay with this because sugary soda is really unhealthy.
The biggest problem with this tax, IMO, is not that it is another move by the Nanny state, or that it is not being directly funded into obesity-prevention programs. The big problems is that this is a regressive tax: It falls more heavily on the poor than the affluent. Consider that two families drink a lot of soda each year. For the poor family this tax could total 3% a year of their meager family income, but for the middle-class family it might be only 1/10 of 1%. (Those numbers are just theoretical, but you get the idea.)
In general I'm against regressive tax structures and prefer progressive one, where people pay a higher rate the more they earn. I have no idea whether Philly has a progressive city income tax at all, but I'd have preferred them to fund universal pre-K that way rather than the way they have.
When I heard this the first question that comes to my mind is: then they should tax every food item that has sugar in it, including just plain old sugar! Soda may not be good for you but tons of other food items are the same! I don't get it...
When I heard this the first question that comes to my mind is: then they should tax every food item that has sugar in it, including just plain old sugar! Soda may not be good for you but tons of other food items are the same! I don't get it...
This.
What I don't understand is how unsweetened coffee and tea will not be taxed at Starbucks, when the sugar/sweetener packets are right there. Maybe they should do like what they've done in places with plastic bag bans. If you want a paper bag, you pay 5 cents. If you want a packet of Sugar in the Raw, it'll cost ya.
When I heard this the first question that comes to my mind is: then they should tax every food item that has sugar in it, including just plain old sugar! Soda may not be good for you but tons of other food items are the same! I don't get it...
Yes, you'd think they could be sued for profiling.
To all those anti-smoking fools who supported the tobacco tax, I say welcome to the smoker's world. They alerted you. They repeatedly ran the warning bell, but you listened not. They warned that once you gave our government the power to tax a legal product beyond the consumer's reach, they'd come after you. Smoker's predicted that sugar would be next on the government's hit list.
Well,.... they're here! Say goodbye to your precious soda pop unless you want to chose between it and paying the rent. Karma always comes around.
I support high tobacco taxes (and strict public smoking regulations) and I am nobody's fool; however, the money collected must go to health programs, just as the sugar tax should—not to city/county/state general coffers as was posted above, if that's accurate.
Although I do eat some sugar, I have no problem with a sugar tax if the money is used for health programs, including health education about diabetes and other obesity-related problems.
I've already started cutting back on sugar and I feel better. Personally, I have come to prefer mineral water with a squeeze of lime or lemon to soda of any kind. It's more refreshing than sugary or diet sodas, and far healthier.
Tea was where I was still adding some sugar. I got into the habit of adding first a teaspoon of sugar to my milk and tea, then cut that in half to half a teaspoon, then 1/4 teaspoon and this morning, just non-fat or 1% milk. I didn't miss the sugar at all. (Well, milk has natural sugar in the form of lactose.)
The sugar tax should extend to manufacturers of animal feed, too, to be fair, not just to consumers of sodas. How many of you know that molasses is added to some livestock you eat to fatten them up more quickly?
So you are eating the animal's heavy dose of sugar, too.
Tea was where I was still adding some sugar. I got into the habit of adding first a teaspoon of sugar to my milk and tea, then cut that in half to half a teaspoon, then 1/4 teaspoon and this morning, just non-fat or 1% milk. I didn't miss the sugar at all. (Well, milk has natural sugar in the form of lactose.)
I know people who have done this, and I'm not one of them. If my coffee or tea is not sweet, I'm going to be a very grumpy person.
But, then again, I don't generally snack on sugary things. So, I guess it really does come back to the tried and true "everything in moderation".
Quote:
Originally Posted by SFBayBoomer
The sugar tax should extend to manufacturers of animal feed, too, to be fair, not just to consumers of sodas. How many of you know that molasses is added to some livestock you eat to fatten them up more quickly?
So that's why meat sears so nicely and tastes so good?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
