This is an interesting idea that Governor Patterson is suggesting: An 18% tax on sugary drinks to raise some money to help the NYS Budget. There are obvious questions as to what would constitute a taxable drink, but the op-ed brought up some stuff that I had never really thought about; like how for hunger purposes, your body treats soda like water, so after drinking this high calorie drink, you are still hungry and proceed to go eat that high calorie meal. This is what makes soda slightly different than Twinkies or whoppers. It also references the fact that smoking really didn't start dying out until a tax was put on it and that for every 10% tax on cigarettes, there was 3% drop in smoking and 7% drop among teens.
Walk into your child's high school; Is there a vending machine with Twinkies? Is there a Burger King? Is there a Pepsi or Coke Machine? 10 years ago, when I was in High School, the answers were No, No, Yes. I can't imagine that has really changed.
