Seattle's Sugary Drink Tax

Ian · January 11, 2018, 10:54:15 AM

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/seattles-soda-tax-experiment-is-doomed-to-failure/article/2645568

TL;DR:

>Seattle implements a $1.75 per ounce tax on sugary drinks
>Tax is designed to drop obesity in the city and increase revenue for other health programs
>A $16 24 pack of Gatorade is now $27
>People are now going outside the city to buy their drinks
>Beer/alcohol sales have also increased
>No evidence that taxing sugary drinks heavily has ever killed obesity (such as with Mexico)

Meanwhile:

>I live literally on the opposite end of the country from Seattle
>My local Publix is doing a buy-1-get-1-free on 8-packs of Powerade
>I walk out with 48 bottles of Powerade for about $14
>Not obese

DAS B00T x2 · January 11, 2018, 11:26:40 AM

lol, a case of gatorade is seriously more expensive than beer there now? They'll just raise the excise tax on alcohol then.

Genghis Khan · January 11, 2018, 12:47:04 PM

Obamacare forced everyone to get insurance so insurance companies were like good, we're gonna raise the prizes.

Verbatim · January 11, 2018, 01:04:14 PM

taxing the poor, unhealthy, and stupid for being poor, unhealthy, and stupid has never really seemed like a great idea to me

Boomdeyadah · January 11, 2018, 01:53:06 PM

Quote from: Ian on January 11, 2018, 10:54:15 AM

$1.75 per ounce tax

That's extortion.

Jono · January 11, 2018, 02:58:54 PM

At least they're not getting taxed every time they put gas

Nick McIntyre · January 12, 2018, 02:28:46 PM

So their obesity fight is increasing the alcohol problem. Great job, Seattle.

Deleted · January 12, 2018, 04:46:35 PM

They tried that here in Chicago and it got repealed faster than you could say Torah. It sucked fucking dick while it lasted though.

Here it want JUST taxing sugary drinks either, even unflavored seltzer got hit with the tax because fuck you give us money.

Ásgeirr · January 12, 2018, 10:46:15 PM

god i hate the fucking sugar tax

challengerX · January 13, 2018, 06:02:47 AM

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FatherlyNick - fuck putin · January 13, 2018, 07:24:41 AM

If their aim was public health, why cant they ban drinks that are over a certain % of sugars?
This would then force manufacturers to lower sugar content.

Same bs happened here in Ireland.

Aether · January 17, 2018, 10:31:45 AM

While I do think a company should be required to be honest about the unhealthiness of their products, similar to how tobacco corporations have to be very transparent about the dangers of cigarettes, I don't think overly taxing or banning any long-term harmful food product is going to stop anything, but rather generate new problems.

People want their vices, they want to satiate their cravings. No tax is going to break that addiction. Just try to educate people better. Raise the standards for healthy eating among society and let the free market decide. One thing people could try to work on is making healthy eating more affordable.

Mordo · January 17, 2018, 05:05:56 PM

Taxing health damaging products has always been a short term solution to a long term problem. Sure, it might result in a moderate reduction for people slightly more health conscientious, but at the end of the day, the people that it affects the most, (A.K.A buttergoblins) are always going to consume these products regardless.

Luciana · January 17, 2018, 06:12:31 PM

They're coming from the right place, but the practice and lack of foresight to the effects of it doesn't seem to have been thought out too well.