A glorious victory for opponents of obesity today. Berkeley has passed a tax on sodas. Taxes like these will help to increase awareness of sugar's role in promoting obesity. It's not the be-all end-all, but consumption of sugar is a big factor in the obesity crisis.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio.../18521923/
The legislation was not perfect. As I see it, it had two flaws:
*It penalized sugary drinks based on an arbitrary threshold of 4g of added sugar per cup. Soda has 25g of sugar per cup (a cup is a little less than 250 ml). 5g vs 25g is a huge difference. A tax based on actual sugar content would have been much better. Eg, for drinks in excess of 4g sugar per 8 ounce serving, tax $0.01 per 1-2g of sugar. That way, companies would be incentivized to reduce sugar content to lower their tax burden.
I'm wondering if energy drink mixes (the powders) are susceptible to this tax.
*It didn't cut taxes elsewhere.
"Nation's first soda tax is passed
The city of Berkeley on Tuesday November 4, 2014 became the first in the nation to pass a tax on soda.
Berkeley, Calif. became the first U.S. city to pass a law taxing sugary drinks including sodas.
More than three-quarters of the votes cast were in favor of Measure D, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. The measure will place a 1-cent-an-ounce tax on soft drinks. It only needed a majority of "yes" votes to pass.
In nearby San Francisco, city voters rejected a similar measure to tax sugary drinks. The measure needed two-thirds of the vote to approve the two-cent tax.
Proponents of the Berkeley tax say the fee will help curb consumption of sodas, energy drinks and sweetened ice teas, beverages they say are contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic.
That argument echoes calls made by other cities that have also tried to pass soda taxes but have failed in the face of well-funded opposition from soda manufacturers. Notably, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempted ban on large-size sugary beverages was blocked by a New York State Judge.
Berkeley, which makes flouting the national norm a point of pride, managed to override its own soda-backed opposition.
"Berkeley has a proud history of setting nationwide trends, such as non-smoking sections in restaurants and bars, curb cuts for wheelchairs, curbside recycling, and public school food policies," said Vicki Alexander, co-chair of the group campaigning to pass Measure D, in a statement announces a victory for the campaign.
The win may make it a leader, or just simply an outlier.
Roger Salazar, a representative of the $10 million opposition campaign in Berkeley and San Francisco that was funded by soft-drink manufacturers, said the Berkeley vote meant little nationally.
"Berkeley is very eclectic. It doesn't look like Anytown USA," he told the Associated Press.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio.../18521923/
The legislation was not perfect. As I see it, it had two flaws:
*It penalized sugary drinks based on an arbitrary threshold of 4g of added sugar per cup. Soda has 25g of sugar per cup (a cup is a little less than 250 ml). 5g vs 25g is a huge difference. A tax based on actual sugar content would have been much better. Eg, for drinks in excess of 4g sugar per 8 ounce serving, tax $0.01 per 1-2g of sugar. That way, companies would be incentivized to reduce sugar content to lower their tax burden.
I'm wondering if energy drink mixes (the powders) are susceptible to this tax.
*It didn't cut taxes elsewhere.
"Nation's first soda tax is passed
The city of Berkeley on Tuesday November 4, 2014 became the first in the nation to pass a tax on soda.
Berkeley, Calif. became the first U.S. city to pass a law taxing sugary drinks including sodas.
More than three-quarters of the votes cast were in favor of Measure D, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. The measure will place a 1-cent-an-ounce tax on soft drinks. It only needed a majority of "yes" votes to pass.
In nearby San Francisco, city voters rejected a similar measure to tax sugary drinks. The measure needed two-thirds of the vote to approve the two-cent tax.
Proponents of the Berkeley tax say the fee will help curb consumption of sodas, energy drinks and sweetened ice teas, beverages they say are contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic.
That argument echoes calls made by other cities that have also tried to pass soda taxes but have failed in the face of well-funded opposition from soda manufacturers. Notably, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempted ban on large-size sugary beverages was blocked by a New York State Judge.
Berkeley, which makes flouting the national norm a point of pride, managed to override its own soda-backed opposition.
"Berkeley has a proud history of setting nationwide trends, such as non-smoking sections in restaurants and bars, curb cuts for wheelchairs, curbside recycling, and public school food policies," said Vicki Alexander, co-chair of the group campaigning to pass Measure D, in a statement announces a victory for the campaign.
The win may make it a leader, or just simply an outlier.
Roger Salazar, a representative of the $10 million opposition campaign in Berkeley and San Francisco that was funded by soft-drink manufacturers, said the Berkeley vote meant little nationally.
"Berkeley is very eclectic. It doesn't look like Anytown USA," he told the Associated Press.
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