Soda pop tax eyed to ease health costs

Billings Gazette ^ | 2/27/04 | ALLISON FARRELL

[Saturnalia]

I say we tax Racquel Welch.
Though I have a feeling she would tax me...

[swarthyguy]

My Fellow Americans, I'm speaking to you tonight on a matter of great national urgency.

We are in a big financial hole; deficits and spending are out of control and the people demand their entitlements or else.

In order to reduce the national debt, I am calling upon all Americans, single, married, young and elderly to do as much as they can to reduce the national debt.

Tax deductible scrips for erectile drugs will be available at your local chip implant center.

Ask not what your country can do for you, Do what you can for your country.

Even if you're alone for a few minutes, you too can help to reduce the debt.

[Mears]

Oh my God,I thought Moxie was long gone. Thanks for the link.


I even remember the slogan,"You've got to have plenty of Moxie"

Brings back lots of memories.

[Mears]

Funny the things our folks did that we remember with fondness and dismay.

My mother made me drink Guiness's Stout to put weight on me,I was so thin.I used to gag,but it doesn't sound too bad compared to Moxie and milk.

[metesky]

Q: How do you think Popeye's forearms got so big?
A: He was trying to reduce the deficit all by himself.

[Big Mack]

I am a boomer. I have worked all my life. I have paid taxes all my life. I have never made a lot opf money. I have made provisions for my health care and perscriptions when I am old. I don't expect the government to take care of me or my wife. What is so hard about that?

[Modernman]

It's "coke" up here too, and it's a 70-30 Coke-Pepsi split. Can't recall if I've ever even had a Dr. Pepper. Seems so 70s.

And there's some neat regional drinks- like Vernors in Detroit.

[lockjaw02]

It's time we changed the name of this country to "Entitlement USA".

How much pop/soda/coke do older people drink? Probably not nearly as much as younger folks who use up the empty calories quicker.

The funny thing is this tax will speed up the "crisis" of an aging population, since it shifts tax burden from one demographic to another. Of course total tax structure compared to other states needs to be considered, but putting a bigger tax burden on younger, larger families with kids who tend to drink larger quantities of these type of beverages will cause some to reconsider staying or settling there as it's more of an incentive for older folks to stay.

They want to get more money to fund more services for older folks than they're already providing. That should work well since this proposal will surely have the effect of inhibiting growth of the tax base they expect to get it from.

[KarlInOhio]

it's only a matter of time before orgasms are taxed via a realtimechipimplant that relays all orgasmic activity back to the Bureau of Orgasmic Fulfillment for audit and tax purposes.

As with all things good and humourous (note the extra 'u'), Monty Python already proposed it:

http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode15.htm#4

Third Official:     Well, er, smoking's been taxed, drinking's been taxed but not ... thingy.

Politician:     Thingy!

Second Official:     Ah, thingy. Well it'll certainly make chartered accountancy a much more interesting job.

[Great Dane]

We're not at all surprised.... new source of money, they have bled the smokers dry.

[BooBoo1000]

The thing that tickles me is that the pop vendors say " We will remove the soda from the vending machines and put in fruit juice. UGH that stuff has more sugar than the pop/ Go figure. If making money is the school's only goal why not put cigarette machines in the schools.

[Great Dane]

The thing that tickles me is that the pop vendors say " We will remove the soda from the vending machines and put in fruit juice. UGH that stuff has more sugar than the pop/ Go figure. If making money is the school's only goal why not put cigarette machines in the schools.

Yeah, the have already taken pop out of schools here, experts have pointed out that there is a lot more sugar in fruit juices, no matter say's the politicians, as long as we seem to be doing something.

In Denmark, a lot of people use bubble mashines to make their own pop, keeps the taxman out of your pocket, at least on the pop-issue.

[Dan from Michigan]

Here we go again.

Touch my Mtn Dew, and I start shooting.

[StriperSniper]

Thanks, I had missed it.

Direct link: The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy

[LibKill]

Freakin' heck!

Just what we need, another tax on top of all the taxes that are crushing us.

[BigSkyFreeper]

This crazy idea was bantied about after Montana raised the price of a pack of cigarettes by raising the cig tax to 70 cents a pack, imposed by the Legislature. I remember a Gazette article the day after the 2002 mid-term elections there was mention about the soda tax, as well as a tax on junk food.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Wow! That map is cool!

[judgeandjury]

"A lot of senior centers are struggling to meet current demands, like rising wage rates and rising utility costs," Aagenes said. "A soft drink fee could easily generate the revenue needed."

Why don't they just determine how much money the state needs, divide that amount by the number of adults living in Montana, and then send everybody a tax bill for their share of the the total amount of money needed by the state. I hate it when politicians impose taxes piecemeal like imposing a tax on brown shoes, or a tax on turning left at a traffic light, or a tax on ice cream cones that have more than one scoop of ice cream.

[swarthyguy]

I'll confess, that was the inspiration. Doesn't sound as wacked out as it did back then!

Amazing world where reality trumps satire. Almost, but close.

[javaliya]

Gah I'm so sick of people trying to take my freedom! Isn't this AMERICA?? We pay insurance, deal with it doctors. You get paid for doing a job, if you don't like it, find a new Occupation! The price of Insurance goes up every year whether we all get fat or not! Does everyone think if we all get healthy insurance will go down? NOT!!

If I choose to sit on my couch and drink a soda and eat bon bons all day. THAT'S MY CHOICE!! If peoples children are gaining weight, why blame only soda's? Why not blame the FDA that's allowing farmers to put Growth hormones in Animals so they can get more money for the product. I don't know about you but when I was in school, girls chest where not what they are today. At 12 years old they have chests as big as mine!

Sodas have been around for years. Why all of a sudden is it being targeted? The sugar hasn't changed in it.. If parents are upset about their kids being over weight then DO something about it! Drink Diet, Tell your child no, drink water, eat veggies. My parents didn't have that problem when I was growing up. Being overweight was not a issue back then. I drank sodas then & they sold them in school. Vitamin D milk was VERY IMPORTANT when I was growing up. Now they took that out of school. Do they see a problem other than SODA??

Fighting for my freedom to EAT, DRINK, WEAR, TASTE, SPEAK what I WANT!!