Soda tax gains traction as health care funding source

09-17-2009

Prominent doctors, scientists, policy makers say soda tax could be powerful weapon in reducing obesity, as cigarette taxes help curb smoking. Tax of penny per ounce on soft drinks, energy drinks, sports beverages, many juices and iced teas would raise $14.9 billion in its first year. Soda research shows that for every 10 percent rise in price, consumption falls 8 to 10 percent. Expert says tax is justified in part because obesity, diabetes often treated with public funds through Medicaid, Medicare.

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Tags: American Beverage Association, American Heart Association, Americans Against Food Taxes, Arkansas, Barack Obama, Beverage Digest, Bloomberg News, Center for Science in the Public Interest, CNN, Coca-Cola, diabetes, diet-related disease, Fox News, health care reform, John Sicher, Joseph W. Thompson, Kelly D. Brownell, Kevin W. Keane, Max Baucus, Men's Health, Michael Jacobson, MSNBC, Muhtar Kent, New England Journal of Medicine, New York City, obesity, outrageous, Rotary Club of Atlanta, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, sugary soft drinkes, Thomas Farley, www.nofoodtaxes.com, Yale




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