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Soda Tax Gathering Momentum
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 8, 2010
Modified Mar 8, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 8, 2010
Modified Mar 8, 2010
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As Governor Paterson returns to Albany today to headline a symposium about a revived penny-per-ounce soda tax, he's picked up some more support from Mayor Bloomberg, who's always up for taxing vice. "In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by," said Bloomberg during his radio address yesterday. "But the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in the classrooms and clinics." Bloomberg had supported a tax on sugary soft drinks last year, but backed away after an "enormous outcry." Now, it seems, the time has come.
"What I think you’re seeing is really a momentum shift in favor of doing it," Dr. Richard F. Daines, the state health commissioner, tells the Times. According to Daines, the new tax "differs from the one proposed last year in that it would be levied directly on soda producers and the estimated $1 billion in annual revenue would be dedicated to the health care budget, rather than to the general fund." Bloomberg says tax revenue would also benefit education. According to experts, a 10 percent soda tax would cut consumption by 8 percent and make $14.9 billion for the state in its first year.
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soda tax
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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