I have no problem taxing soda. I drink it extremely rarely. I don't really like it. And yet, I am fat! Amazing isn't it.

So tax soda, if you must, and raise a lot of money. No problemo. But don't think you'll eliminate fat or fat people.

Nothings cheaper than supercharged sugar/fat foods. That's because sugar and fat are very, very cheap and we love 'em. Why fool around with "ounces" per soft drink? Go after "sugar" itself (and fat), not the products that they infest.

Why not just tax fat people. Every April 15, you get on the scale at a government office and if you're overweight, your taxes go up 25 percent. If you are actually obese, they go up 50 percent. And if you are morbidly obese, they take your car and make you walk to work.

LM75, Fair point. You don't drink sugary soda (and for all I know subsist on fruits and grains) and yet you are still fat. I have no idea why this is. However, you could fill this section with comments from non-soda-dinking, marathon running, vegan obese folks and it would not change the reality that soda and other cheap, nutritionally void foods contribute to obesity. The statistics seem fairly clear to me. We are talking about a sample size of millions and millions, so the existence of even thousands of healthy-eating overweight people does not prove that unhealthy eating does not cause obesity. Statistically, people like you are to be expected. I have no real opinion on a fat tax per se, but I do think it is important to come to a consensus that, yes, unhealthy eating causes people to lose weight, and the existence of "outliers" liek yourself does not change that reality.

Folgers, 60% of the country is either overweight or obese, going by the BMI standard. People would start leaving the country in droves--hell, the South might try to secede again!

I think the concern is probably for kids who drink 4 sodas a day and never touch water or sugar-free juice and thus learn bad habits. Yes some people are biologically larger, but some are also overweight as a result of their environment and choices.

I LOVE soda, I crave it. When I try to quench my thirst with water or juice, it fails. Something about the fizz quenches my thirst, cuts through that cotton feeling I get if I go too long without a soda. Is it possible to be physically addicted to it?? I don't know - point is - I really love soda, it brings me pleasure.... and I'm not fat, I'm not even chunky or chubby or any of these.

Soda does not make people fat, genetics and/or a sedentary lifestyle do. What would a bill like this really accomplish anyway....? The argument has long been that low income people eat garbage because it's cheaper, so we will, what?.. tax the garbage to the hilt so that they can't afford to eat anything!? .... Well, I guess they'll lose weight then. hmpf.

Morty_Causa:

Nothings cheaper than supercharged sugar/fat foods. That's because sugar and fat are very, very cheap and we love 'em. Why fool around with "ounces" per soft drink? Go after "sugar" itself (and fat), not the products that they infest.

It's not even sugar in most of the really bad foods - it's high fructose corn syrup.

It's not even sugar in most of the really bad foods - it's high fructose corn syrup.

That's true. I was using "sugar" as a catch-all. Same principle, same remedy.

It's not mystical. The country is "getting" fatter. That's the point. That's the issue to address. That's an effect that has to have a cause. Saying with some people it's genes, or this or that, doesn't address the fact that the country is getting fatter.