[Eric Blair 2084]

I'll weigh in, Marion. I'm 5'10" 160 pounds. I'm on your side here. Let's spread the misery around. Why should I as a taxpayer in a collectivist, Socialist state have to pay for the diabetes and high blood pressure medication caused by obesity?

They got the smokers, why not the overweight? Next, we'll move on to the ugly.

That's not a woman, THAT'S A MAN, BABY!!

[allmost]

I would like to see a chart comparing New York’s Governor to Alaska’s.

[South40]

Yet more of the left’s attempts to tax to death the poor who are the largest consumers of junk food.

[robomatik]

i have an idea too. let's charge 50 cents to activate a walk sign at a crosswalk.

let's force businesses to charge 25 cents to open sliding entry doors.

let's charge everyone a sidewalk tax, an air tax, a tax on broccoli, etc.

this is, of course, what the framers had in mind... right?

[KevinDavis]

But we where told that they will stop at smoking..

[ScreamingFist]

Nobody cared when they taxed cigarettes, now I don’t care when they tax soda, hamburgers or Kentucky Fried Chicken......

[Rocky]

In other news, Big Brother has determined that the chocolate ration must be decreased in March.

[Glenn]

I consume diet soda with the once-in-a-while Starbucks. But I really don’t care. I don’t live in NY anymore.

[jjw]

funny thing is, the libs are against the fair tax, but when they tax basic goods they reduce the overall percentage of taxes paid by the rich. oops.

[muawiyah]

Obesity is a "symptom", not a "cause". There's already enough information on the matter to conclude that Type II diabetes is pretty much a genetic disease ~ .

Turns out carbohydrates are more difficult for the digestive system of diabetics to handle.

Frankly, I'd go for a flat out ban on carbohydrates in the schools. Make the kids eat more meat and cheese ~ cut out the useless breads and cakes.

[Popman]

What these morons fail to realize is the soft drink companies will raise the price of diet drinks so all soft drinks are equal price at retail

Diet drinks cost considerly more to produce and when people start drinking more diets the soft drink companies will make less money so they will raise the price to make up the difference

[Mrs. Ranger]

“I’m curious to know what you think of this idea. Please weigh in.”

I’m thinking that NY just lost all the dollars we used to spend there on our semi-annual pass-through. :)

[shhrubbery!]

Diet soda is actually correlated more with obesity than regular soda.

At least heavy consumption of diet soda is, iirc.

[Taffini]

It won’t pay to be a fat, ugly smoker in NY if this passes.

[TheWasteLand]

Next, we'll move on to the ugly.

I don't like ugly people either. It's a little known fact, but 92% of ugly people eat kittens.

[autumnraine]

“Revenues will be directed for health care initiatives.”

Ok, so this lets us know that it isn’t about raising money in a budget deficit, but about punishing people.

[lacrew]

Not that it should really matter, as far as taxes go; but, diet soda is not necessarily healthier than regular soda. There is gathering evidence that the artificial sweeteners cause an increase in appetite.

In fact, every decade or so, a new artificial sweetener turns out to be cancer causing. I just think the notion that diet drinks are healthier is junk science.

BTW, if the reasoning for taxing non-diet drinks is tied to preventing future nanny-state health care expenses...why tax the gym membership?

This is truly insane. There seems to be nothing that isn’t elible to be taxed.

[4Speed]

15 % is NOT going to stop anyone. A little Truth here. . . Its a Tax not a deterrant to anything.
75 % might stop someone . . .while starting a black market.
Dems are Dim, as raising taxes will decrease Revenue . . The legislatures are asking for Replacements next election cycle if they do this . . .TAXING KIDS ? Fat or skinny is reaching too far. Cut Govt. down to a 100 billion. . .or else the citizens will cut You.

[pandoraou812]

I am sick of being taxed. I really resent more taxing. I think the govt should stop bailing out companies & give some money back to we the people who have paid endless taxes for so many things. That way we could pay our bills & spend money. I resent these huge companies CEO's getting huge bonus checks. While this year my husband is out of work & who knows when he will get more work as he is self employed. If the govt gave all of us some money then people could get their kitchens & bathrooms tiled & he would have work. I don't see anyone bailing out people like him. So we pay sin taxes & now maybe taxes for soda, will taxing our air be next?? Sorry for the rant.

[freekitty]

I have always wondered how people can drink a diet soda and eat a Big Mac at the same time.

[DannyTN]

There are several problems with this. I'm ok with taxing unhealthful activities or products. But they have to have the science right, and too often it's based on junk science.

• Scientific studies have shown people gain more weight on diet drinks (artificial sugars) than they do non-diet drinks. So they should tax the diet drinks even more.
• Scientific studies have also shown contrary to popular opinion that people who are a little overweight actually live longer than thin people. It turns out the overweight have a greater chance of dying of heart disease than thin people, but thin people have a greater chance of dying from almost everything else, and this was true after smoking was eliminated as a factor.
• We've seen too many junk science or politically/commercially influenced science in the health food arena. We were told eating fat was bad, then that most of the critical vitamins were fat soluable and you needed fat. We were told eating eggs would raise cholesterol, and then told it really has minimal impact. We were told Margarine and Transfats were healthy and now we are told nothing clogs arteries faster. They need at least another hundred years of science before government starts telling us what constitutes healthy food.