SF Considers a Tax on Sugary Drinks

KCBS ^ | Dec. 17, 2007 | Holly Quan

[jdm]

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- For years, the idea of taxing soda to beat back obesity has been tossed around in medical circles. But now, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing a tax on beverages high in fructose corn syrup.

Newsom says obesity accounts for tens of millions of dollars in city health care costs. He cites a recent San Francisco Health Department survey that found nearly a quarter of the city's 5th, 7th and 9th graders were overweight and that high sugar drinks make up a tenth of a kid's daily calorie count.

Newsom reportedly wants all big box retailers and chain drug stores to pay into his new "Shape up San Francisco" program, which started this past summer with a walking regimen.

This comes as the state of California is considering slapping caffeine-infused sodas, and energy drinks with warning labels, saying consumption can contribute to diabetes.

[gonzo]

"...Newsom says obesity accounts for tens of millions of dollars in city health care costs.

I thought the queers were a sickly and emaciated lot due to the disease?

Oops - there's the cost! Gotta raise some tax-money somewhere .................. FRegards

[Don W]

The crap bottled here in the western provinces of Canada is also made with HFCS, FRiend. I did get some real Coke when I went to the Costco in Woodburn, Oregon.

[Marie2]

Maybe now they’ll let ROTC stay in the schools, get the kids in shape?

[Riverman94610]

I had a friend who worked at SF General Hospital in the Seventies.
Among her more graphic tales were the burning treatment for anal warts and the “broken carrot”stories.
This was WAY before AIDS and all.

[Myrddin]

The tax will have zero effect on obesity. The only thing that will get lighter is the wallets of the consumers. When soda prices were jacked up by "redemption" fees for aluminum and glass, the consumer quietly paid the additional cost. In many cases, the stores collect the fee and the container never gets returned. It goes right off to the trash as before. The lefties just don't understand that such taxes have zero impact on behavior.

[darkangel82]

I still to this day drink multiple sodas a day. I wear a size 32 pair of jeans. Of course, we know that this is not really about public health.

34 here and I drink too much soda too. But the nanny-staters in SF can shove it.

[GOP_Raider]

Ah, it's things like this that will probably be a very long time before I see a Giants home game.

I doubt I've ever consumed more than 3,000-4,000 calories on any given day, let alone three times that.

4,000 calories for somebody like me who doesn't have the biggest appetite in the world would be like a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Even 3,000 would be a little on the optimistic side.

[darkangel82]

Same here.

[The Ghost of Rudy McRomney]

Guess what? You CAN still get it year round, but you’ll have to find a place that gets imports. My local Kroger’s has mexican bottled coca-cola in with the imported mexican hot sauces, peppers, etc.They still use sugar. A bit pricy at $1.89 or so a bottle, though. About 20 years ago, a friend and I went to mexico for a vacation. As we drank a coke, he observed that “we invented this stuff, and now you have to go to a different country beore it tastes as good as it did when you were a kid.”

[CIDKauf]

Oh my God....one step closer to PIZZA tax!

[gonzo]

"...Maybe now they’ll let ROTC stay in the schools, get the kids in shape?..."

LOL! Ya made me laugh, Marie! Thanks ...................... FRegards

[bigdcaldavis]

More “problem-reaction-solution” from the Dems. Create the problems (through Rockefeller front groups such as CSPI and RWJF), get a reaction (through junk science and Alex Jones-esque fearmongering), and offer phony solutions which take away our liberties and further empower the same Rockefeller front groups.

[bigdcaldavis]

I had a VERY interesting convo today with somebody who buys into the food police propaganda. They actually think the “fat tax” will save lives. I asked her if she supports CSPI in any way, and she said she does and even subscribes to their Nutrition Action healthletter. I then told her CSPI is actually a Rockefeller front group implicitly involved in the fast/junk food industries switching to trans fats, even going so far as to defend trans fats in their March 1988 Nutrition Action healthletter in an article, titled “The Truth About Trans” written by Elaine Blume, and I even quoted Blume’s main talking point: “All told, the charges against trans fat just don’t stand up. And by extension, hydrogenated oils seem relatively innocent.”

I then asked her what she thought of her precious CSPI. She didn’t say a word. I guess she was too shocked to realize that the group she’s been funding for a while is actually a group of cold-blooded murderers.

[bigdcaldavis]

Yep, nevermind the fact that salt is essential for life. Too much salt kills, but not enough salt kills (I heard salt deficiency is deadlier than too much salt). Just shows that the “food police” are cold-blooded murderers. Michael Jacobson is a serial murderer on the level of John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy.

[bigdcaldavis]

you could even have the government limit how many babies a person can have

DING DING DING! We have a winner. Notice how the "loving libs" are depopulation fanatics always praising China's one-child policy and demanding an Amerikan one-child policy?

[M Kehoe]

Wait till San Fransico figures out how to tax air. That will be fun to watch.

5.56mm

[bigdcaldavis]

Leftists are trying to implement China’s tyrannical one-child policy in America. Australia recently got taken over by the left, and now they’re talking about forcing Australians to pay a “carbon tax” if you have too many children, and they also plan to give people “carbon credits” if they get sterilized.

CSPI : Center for Slaughtering People Internationally

[mrmargaritaville]

This isn’t about obesity it’s about taxes. If they were so concerned about childhood obesity they would ban the sale of soft drinks in the city and have all soda machines removed from the city. But they won’t.