Yet Another Soda Tax

First it was the governor of New York, wanting to raise more money for his dwindling coffers. Now it's the current regime and Obama who want to impose yet another tax on people and their carbonated beverages in order to help him fund his socialised medicine scheme.

Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health-care system.

The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is set to hear proposals from about a dozen experts about how to pay for the comprehensive health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama wants to enact this year. Early estimates put the cost of the plan at around $1.2 trillion. The administration has so far only earmarked funds for about half of that amount.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based watchdog group that pressures food companies to make healthier products, plans to propose a federal excise tax on soda, certain fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and ready-to-drink teas. It would not include most diet beverages. Excise taxes are levied on goods and manufacturers typically pass them on to consumers.

Senior staff members for some Democratic senators at the center of the effort to craft health-care legislation are weighing the idea behind closed doors, Senate aides said.

The Congressional Budget Office, which is providing lawmakers with cost estimates for each potential change in the health overhaul, included the option in a broad report on health-system financing in December. The office estimated that adding a tax of three cents per 12-ounce serving to these types of sweetened drinks would generate $24 billion over the next four years. So far, lawmakers have not indicated how big a tax they are considering.

Mr. Obama and his bureaucratic cohorts are willing to add a "sin tax" on people who just want a few joyous moments with a frosty non-alcoholic beverage. This is just the opening salvo in his tax and spend health rationing plans. No doubt other onerous taxes lay in wait in the wings to fund this debacle. Fat taxes, fast food taxes, non-organic food taxes, organic food taxes and more are likely to rear their ugly heads, just to fund Obama's "health care" plans.

If they pass this one without resistance we can rest assured that they will see this as a sign of weakness and will rush to impose even more taxation measures. That's just the way these people work. Give them an inch and they want a mile. It's only a few cents, right? It's always a few cents here and there, and then pretty soon it's a whole dollar. Every soda you buy today already has embedded taxes in it that the companies have to pass along to the consumer. Fuel taxes, local, state and federal taxes, payroll taxes and a wide variety of incremental taxes that range from local to the federal levels. The politicians are counting on us not caring about " a few cents more". Well, I care.

You should, too. This taxation will be used to fund government controlled medicine. It doesn't work anywhere else in the world, why would we think that a Chicago politician would be able to do any better than anyone else? I certainly don't want the government controlling and rationing health care. They do a lousy job of it already and are more than partially responsible for most of the problems that we do see in our current system. No thanks. Keep your hands of my health care and my little pleasures in life.

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