Soda Tax Essay

In the United States childhood obesity has more than tripled since 1970 (National Diabetes). Now one in five children are considered obese. Are we going to stay on this upward trend? Obesity is caused when too much energy, in the form of fats and sugars are consumed. With the combination of minimal physical activity, down the road, this can lead to horrible health problems. One of the main sources of sugar in a typical diet is soda and energy drinks. The consumption of these addicting drinks needs to be carefully monitored because they contain large amounts of sugar. The USA must implement a Nationwide Soda tax on all sugary drinks that don’t provide a substantial amount of nutrients. Admittedly, in some cases a small Soda tax might not

The US spends more money on health care, 8,608 dollars per person, than any other country in 2011 (Barnet). Healthcare is partially funded by taxpayers; this means that people who chose to make these bad decisions are being cared for by you. This is completely unfair to people who are careful about what they eat and make the right decisions. Currently there is a tax on cigarettes, one pack of cigarettes has a $2.87 tax (Mincer). This is a very steep price to pay for just a tax, but this is for good reason, cigarettes are known to cause lung cancer and other horrific diseases. Studies show that for every 10% increase in price, a 7% decrease in consumption occurs (John Schachter). This tax has been around for over 18 years, and has slowly decreased the smocking population over the course of the 18 years. If this tax is thriving, then why wont a soda tax work just as well or even

One 12-ounce can of Coke a Cola contains 39 grams of sugar; that’s about the same amount of sugar that is in a medium sized cake. Coke also doesn’t have any protein, fiber, calcium, iron, vitamin A, or vitamin B (Coca-Cola). All this soda does that is useful is temporary relief to thirst, and it gives you a good sensation as you drink it. There are many other drinks out there, smoothies, juices, and chocolate milk. All these drinks have a substantial amount of nutrition. Imagine a cold wintery night, slowly sipping a nice steamy hot chocolate the warmth running down your throat and into your stomach, what a great feeling. Obesity in the US is very high almost 2/3 of adults are considered obese. In addition, 29 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes along with 208,000 people under 21 years of age (National Diabetes). Although, soda is not single handedly responsible for all these health issues, it plays a huge role in them. Sugar in liquid form is very easy to digest; a 12-ounce bottle of soda can be digested in less than 30 minutes. This means that our blood sugar levels spike, making the kidneys over work. This results in tremendous amounts of fat being produced in the liver. Young children don’t think twice about drinking soda, they have seen their parents drink it, and they always have it stocked in the refrigerator. They are unaware that what they are doing is going to impact their lives