USDA Pushes For a 20% Energy Drink Tax
The United States Department of Agriculture recently released a report where they recommend a 20% increase in the cost of sugary sodas and energy drinks in order to curb obesity in the USA.
They stated in their report that by raising the price of energy drinks and the like through a tax, it would cause people to cut back on their consumption resulting in 38 less calories a day and a reduction of 3.8 pounds a year for a energy drink consuming person. So basically this means your Energy Drink that costs $3 now would run you $3.60 including the 20% tax.
There are so many flaws and assumptions in this mentality that I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, there many factors that contribute to obesity in America with the largest probably being the marketing of unhealthy food to children i.e. Mcdonalds Happy Meals and Fruity Pebbles…. Secondly, to take one type of food such as energy drinks and tax it heavily is unfair to the millions who are not overweight and who enjoy a beverage such as an energy drink or a soda.
Of course this type of legislation has been gaining popularity with law makers because in this tough economic climate, the government could be set to make billions of dollars with such a tax. What do you think? Would you support an energy drink/ soda tax?
Source: BevNet.com
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10 Comments
RECENTLY ADDED CAFFEINE
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caffeine curbs appetite, i say they remove the tax on energy drinks if that’s what they’re really doing it for. of course it’s just a cover to create revenue..
I doubt the tax will be effective, but I do agree with the idea that obesity is a problem because people are encouraged to make stupid choices when it comes to their diets. Without some incentives to change that behavior, they never will. Coffee will always be cheap, and the manufacturers could always use either less sugar, or find some artificial sweetener and create a diet version which would also be cheaper (right?) not that it matters though, his tax would never actually pass, they have tried this type of a thing before and it doesn’t work. I think here they are just seeing if the energy drink manufacturers have the same lobbying power as coke and pepsi.
These “vice taxes” are ridiculous. They’re all just ideas to create more tax revenue for the government, but they parade around under the mask of “helping Americans make better choices.” High taxes didn’t stop smokers from buying cigarettes (although it did generate billions in taxes for ol’ Uncle Sam…and we’re supposed to believe they’re in it for our health, and not the money) although, granted, they’re addicted to it whereas you’d be hard pressed to find a drinker of energy drinks that is clinically addicted to them. So in that light, yeah, this tax might stop people from drinking them somewhat. Frankly, that’s unfair to the manufacturers…they shouldn’t lose business because the government has decided that people can’t control the way they buy the company’s product.
What makes me mad is that they refuse to differentiate between sugary sodas and diet- they plan to tax them EXACTLY the same!
And yet, you can walk over to the ‘juice’ aisle, and get any of 100 sugar-water drinks without carbonation but the same amount of sugar and calories- minus the extra tax. In fact, in my state, these juices are part of the ‘food’ category, and not taxed AT ALL!
Jesus, so on top of my state/county’s 9.5% sales tax, I end up paying $2.59 for my $2 energy drink?
Are they going to tax the diet drinks as well?
No sugar, caffeine to curb the appetite, it’s the perfect weight loss helper (besides diet and exercise, of course)
It honestly isn’t going to do anything. Obese people won’t stop drinking soda because it’s going to start costing then a few quarters more. What will likely happen is generic brands from Walmart and such are going to get a lot more sales seeing as they’re sometimes $2 cheaper.
This just makes me drink more coffee. I have stopped buying energy drinks for the most part now because of how much they cost when I can get a good 20 ounce coffee at the grocery store for like a dollar here.
I’m guessing if you do some research you’ll find that someone is “pushing” (financial support to someone’s campaign) this tax. In the end it’s always comes down to money for someone.
I can see how the tax will work,..less money in my pocket translates to less weight on the scale. The government has tried taxing tea before and it didn’t work, whats make them think it will work now??