Taxafornia at it again

[theevilsharpie]

Another fun fact the fda prohibits companies from fortifying soda with nutrients.

[citation needed]

 

[zsdersw]

Personally, I only drink soda if there's liquor mixed with it. Otherwise it's either water or milk. Maybe orange juice once in a while.

 

[wirednuts]

im all for taxing junk food AS LONG AS we subsidize whole healthy foods.

 

[nehalem256]

Milk doesn't eat away your teeth and has a lot less sugar.

Fortified soda would be just as bad for you as unfortified soda is now. The calories come entirely from sugar, so the calories would be just as empty and the carbonation and various acids in soda would still do just as much damage to your teeth.

A calorie is a calorie. And if soda was fortified with vitamins and nutrients it would not be empty calories.

[citation needed]

If only a link had been included...

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112728973/antioxidant-7up-cherry-false-claims-fda-110912/

Reading the article it links to:

http://cspinet.org/new/201211081.html

Moreover, the FDA has a policy that states that the agency "does not consider it appropriate to fortify...snack foods such as candies and carbonated beverages." The FDA sent a warning letter to Coca-Cola for similar violations of that policy.

 

[zsdersw]

A calorie is a calorie. And if soda was fortified with vitamins and nutrients it would not be empty calories.

Sure it would. The acids (especially phosphoric acid) in soda tend to leach more nutrients out of your body than any fortification would put in.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I'm not really seeing the outage.

Obesity is a major health problem, sugar-sweetened drinks are major contributor to that problem, and in many cases, taxpayers are shouldering the healthcare costs that stem from obesity. Taxing the consumption of sugary drinks is certainly fairer than burdening everyone with the costs of such consumption, and it has precedent from other "sin" taxes like cigarettes, alcohol, gas guzzlers, etc.

Alrighty then, you've been sitting on your ass on a message board all day, were gonna have to start taxing you for that.

Then when you go home and play videogames, you're getting taxed for that.

Hired someone to do your lawn work? That's another paddlin'

Delivery pizza? You sat on your ass AND they brought you fatty foods? We have to tax that shit.


Jesus fuck, people that don't see a problem with this - how far up your ass is your head?

 

[theevilsharpie]

If only a link had been included...

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112728973/antioxidant-7up-cherry-false-claims-fda-110912/

Reading the article it links to:

http://cspinet.org/new/201211081.html

Moreover, the FDA has a policy that states that the agency "does not consider it appropriate to fortify...snack foods such as candies and carbonated beverages." The FDA sent a warning letter to Coca-Cola for similar violations of that policy.

I'll take your article and raise you a direct letter to the Coca-Cola Company from the FDA:

http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2008/ucm1048050.htm

Sounds bites are nice, but they can be inaccurate. The FDA forced the Coca-Cola Company to pull Diet Coke Plus from the market because of a legal technicality over the "Plus" label, not because of it's vitamin content. The FDA can disapprove what it wants, but that doesn't necessarily make it illegal. Indeed, products like Vitamin Water actively flaunt their enrichment of otherwise empty calories with no word from the FDA.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Alrighty then, you've been sitting on your ass on a message board all day, were gonna have to start taxing you for that.

Then when you go home and play videogames, you're getting taxed for that.

Hired someone to do your lawn work? That's another paddlin'

Delivery pizza? You sat on your ass AND they brought you fatty foods? We have to tax that shit.

Jesus fuck, people that don't see a problem with this - how far up your ass is your head?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externalities#Negative

You're already being "taxed" via higher medical costs that doctors are charging to make up for obesity-related health problems that many people can't pay for.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externalities#Negative

You're already being "taxed" via higher medical costs that doctors are charging to make up for obesity-related health problems that many people can't pay for.

How is that stupid statement saying that our health care insurance/costs are up in anyway supporting your argument that you don't see a problem with fickle taxations like this? I named a bunch of other examples that are the equivalency to it.

 

[Slew Foot]

Good, maybe the fat people will leave

 

[Slew Foot]

How about this... I know it's a radical idea to some of you:

No 'sin' taxes whatsoever. If people want to be obese and cut their lives short, let them. If people want to eat crap and, as a result, ruin their health, let them.

Thats all well and good but then they ruin their health and expect you to pay for it.

 

[zsdersw]

Thats all well and good but then they ruin their health and expect you to pay for it.

Obviously, this needs to end as well.

 

[zsdersw]

Good, maybe the fat people will leave

If that happened, the US population would go from 300M to whatever Colorado's population is and Mississippi would have zero residents at all.

 

[theevilsharpie]

How is that stupid statement saying that our health care insurance/costs are up in anyway supporting your argument that you don't see a problem with fickle taxations like this? I named a bunch of other examples that are the equivalency to it.

Your examples:
- There is no documented link between playing video games and obesity
- The government already taxes you for hiring others
- Placing a tax on pizza is impractical because the ingredients can come from any source

With that out of the way...

Someone is paying for obesity. Right now, that someone is the population, via taxpayers and anyone that consumes medical care. Taxing the activity directly shifts the costs away from the general population, and toward the people engaging in the activity that causes the costs.

Again, I don't see the outrage.

 

[woolfe9998]

How about this... I know it's a radical idea to some of you:

No 'sin' taxes whatsoever. If people want to be obese and cut their lives short, let them. If people want to eat crap and, as a result, ruin their health, let them.

I'm not wild about this tax either. But I have to say, I quit smoking 3 years ago after they increased the cig tax at the federal level. I wanted to quit for years due to health reasons, but the increased cost put my motivation over the top. So that tax might have saved my life.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Obviously, this needs to end as well.

Many obesity-related problems (diabetes, blood pressure, etc.) show up later in life, when people start qualifying for Medicare.

I doubt Medicare is going away any time soon.

 

[zsdersw]

I doubt Medicare is going away any time soon.

And an obesity tax isn't coming anytime soon, either... but we're talking about what would be ideal; the way things should be. How things are is irrelevant to that.

 

[nehalem256]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externalities#Negative

You're already being "taxed" via higher medical costs that doctors are charging to make up for obesity-related health problems that many people can't pay for.

So wouldn't the simple solution be to charge obese people high insurance premiums? :hmm:

 

[theevilsharpie]

So wouldn't the simple solution be to charge obese people high insurance premiums? :hmm:

They already do, and many insurers refuse to insure grossly obese people at all. That leaves them with a choice of buying into a government-funded high-risk pool, or going without insurance and dumping medical bills on the taxpayer when they inevitably default.

 

[Attic]

If they need money it's either here on soft drinks or it will be put on something else. The bat shit crazy high traffic and parking fines may get higher.

 

[NoStateofMind]

I am a slave. I will pay to my masters whatever they ask of me. Please I just want to be left alone.

 

[blankslate]

Instead of taxing sodas, the corn subsidies that contribute to the use of corn sugar a.k.a. high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener should be ended.

Sugar is harmful is consumed in high amounts but not as harmful as hfcs.

 

[nehalem256]

They already do, and many insurers refuse to insure grossly obese people at all. That leaves them with a choice of buying into a government-funded high-risk pool, or going without insurance and dumping medical bills on the taxpayer when they inevitably default.

Well if the government stopped mandating hospitals provide services to people that can't pay because they are to fat to be insurable the problem would go away. :awe:

Basically a soda tax is nothing more than punishing responsible people, because the government is unwilling to tell irresponsible people what to do.

 

[ivwshane]

Instead of taxing sodas, the corn subsidies that contribute to the use of corn sugar a.k.a. high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener should be ended.

Sugar is harmful is consumed in high amounts but not as harmful as hfcs.

Good idea!

End the corn subsidies and tax unhealthy products like cigarettes and soda and anything with partially hydrogenated oils in them. Health care costs have been increasing exponentially and it's not because Americans are eating healthier and exercising more.

Another poster said he is taxed on water, I don't understand that one.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Well if the government stopped mandating hospitals provide services to people that can't pay because they are to fat to be insurable the problem would go away. :awe:

Basically a soda tax is nothing more than punishing responsible people, because the government is unwilling to tell irresponsible people what to do.

Too live in such a simple world... :awe:

Even disregarding the potential criminal aspects, the liability of turning away a patient because they're too fat is enormous. As such, no hospital will ever turn away a patient in need of emergency care, regardless of what the law says.

As for telling people what to do, that's the approach New York City is taking, and not only has it been wildly unpopular, it was also deemed illegal and stopped by the courts. Taxing sugary soda may seem unfair and arbitrary, but what is most fair is often not what is most practical, and taxing soda is as good a method as any to discourage its consumption and cover the costs of its use without flat-out banning the product.