Are they going to tax Gatorade, Powerade, Snapple, etc. They contain corn syrup and aren't that healthy either. Tax everything except water.

What about bagels, ice cream, doughnuts, candy bars, french fries, and anything with mayo? Let's just make it simple and tax only fat people. Create jobs by hiring the Fat Police.

What a joke.. This is something I would expect The Onion to come up with, but Health Officials? Seriously?

Graphic artist jobs

Will this tax mean the end of Free Refills as we know them?

I'd like to know how the proposed tax would affect self-serve soda fountains. A customer might falsely tell the cashier he's going to dispense a diet drink. And if it's an all-you-can-drink fountain, how are they gonna calculate the tax?

Just order Chinese a couple times a week. Free soda with $10 order. I can't remember the last time I paid for a soda. There's like 20 in my fridge right now.

Just order Chinese a couple times a week and your sodium intake will be at leat three times the reccomeded level.

So basically, we have to pay more for a coke to help support a bunch of lazy unionized shitbags in an office building that looks like an air filter eat yet more birthday cake in a neighbor's cubicle.

"...nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks [comes] from diet sodas."

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight

Nice way to ignore the second half of the page where it says there's no smoking gun for diet sodas. Demagoguery lives.

Say, if it all comes from diet sodas, how do you explain that couple in Supersize Me that became morbidly obese even though they each only drank several 2-liter bottles of regular soda -- not diet -- each day?

Sorry, I should have been more clear why i posted that article. If they're going to instate a tax on soda in the name of lowering obesity rates, I think it's silly to only tax non-diet sodas since people who drink diet soda are statistically more obese.

If we are going start adding additional taxes to everything that isn't low calorie, this is going to get expensive!

@Phil - you are 100% correct, we need to stop subsidizing corn and soy ASAP. But we should also tax products like soda and cigarettes.

@SP Maybe a VAT wouldn't be a bad idea if we got something in return except bullshit from politicians and corporations. I'm not anti-corporate, I just want value for what I'm spending my money on and that especially includes taxes.

Try to understand the logic of my last comment. We're already paying a tax to SUBSIDIZE the corn industry. Instead of charging a tax to defeat another tax take that subsidy money and give it to the states proportionately to fight obesity.

I don't ever drink soda so realistically I shouldn't care about this. But if the U.S. government would stop paying subsidies to the corn industry, the corn industry would have to charge more money across the board for their corn syrup and there would be no need for another tax. That is if the state is serious about changing people's behaviors away from unhealthy food and reducing obesity. Either that or start charging a VAT on everything and let's eliminate all subsidies period.

this is awesome news. finally!

as far as diet soda goes, no it does not have calories, but the artificial sweeteners create myriad problems. first of all they are know to be linked to kidney disease and osteoporosis. second, they stimulate the brain's sweetness receptors, which causes your body to act as if it actually is ingesting sugar which fucks with insulin production. this promotes diabetes. caramel color is also linked to cancer.

this is all demonstrated by hard science. it's not a bunch of new agey conspiracy theory. I'm on my iPhone otherwise I'd post links. but if you aren't so kneejerk "libertarian" tool and are actually interested in the facts it's all at your fingertips on the google.

the stuff is poison. it should really just be banned outright, especially in schools and in sales to children. but since we let people destroy themselves, and I'm in favor of these freedoms like smoking (and I think weed should be legal), then regulating and taxing the shit out of soda is a very sensible and useful next best solution.

the stuff is poison. it should really just be banned outright, especially in schools and in sales to children. but since we let people destroy themselves, and I'm in favor of these freedoms like smoking (and I think weed should be legal), then regulating and taxing the shit out of soda is a very sensible and useful next best solution.

Doesn't compute.

Regulating and taxing the shit of of soda is a position you support. Fine. But what do you think they'll do to weed?

Look at tobacco. In NYC you pay how much in taxes?

It's unfair. I know this is not in the ballpark at all, but remember the poll taxes, property requirements and literacy requirements for blacks to vote in the south? These are poison pills. Just like how the NFL teams used to circumvent restricted free agency, too.

Yes, we allow smoking...but we're going to make it cost prohibitive for you to do so.

Wow! I love when the government shapes our behavior!

How would you feel, SP, if a religious conservatives were in charge and made a huge book tax on what they call perversive literature, or something like that?

Yes! Finally a fat gross ugly people tax. Thank god. I just hope they keep it to sodas and not the various 100% prune juices I need to keep myself regular.

I hope this passes, it's a smart move.

Diet soda not having calories is beside the point--you're still sucking down artificial corn syrup garbage that isn't good for you. But I do agree about needing some big change up in Albany.