Sugar Tax? It Is Time to Crush the Sugar Industry

[Alnitak]

The sugar lobby is not discussed often enough despite being one of the most toxic industries to society and health. If more people were aware that the obesity epidemic is strongly linked to industry bigwigs and not just a personal and social problem, some simple solutions could shed America of millions of tons of unhealthy weight - such as a tax on sugar.

We found that the [one cent per ounce] tax would reduce consumption of these beverages by 15 percent among adults ages 25–64. Over the period 2010–20, the tax was estimated to prevent 2.4 million diabetes person-years, 95,000 coronary heart events, 8,000 strokes, and 26,000 premature deaths, while avoiding more than $17 billion in medical costs. In addition to generating approximately $13 billion in annual tax revenue...

A Penny-Per-Ounce Tax On Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Would Cut Health And Cost Burdens Of Diabetes

Such power from a penny tax per ounce. Yet we have seen it work on the tobacco industry, which has been crushed along with declining cancer rates since the 1990s.

The rate of new lung cancer cases (incidence) over the past 37 years has dropped for men (28% decrease), while it has risen for women (98% increase). In 1975, rates were low for women, but rising for both men and women. In 1984, the rate of new cases for men peaked (102.1 per 100,000) and then began declining. The rate of new cases for women increased further, did not peak until 1998 (52.9 per 100,000), and has now started to decline.

Lung Cancer Fact Sheet

Yet nothing is being done about sugar.

"The CDC has long since warned us that, should current trends persist, as many as one out of three Americans could be diabetic by mid-century," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center.


U.S. Diabetes Rates Soaring: CDC

For those who bleat at the increase, the sugar lobby is getting its way in more ways than just laying on 100 lbs on every man and woman in America.

U.S. readies duties on Mexican sugar in win for sugar lobby

The United States is set to slap import duties as high as 17 percent on Mexican sugar in a victory for the powerful U.S. sugar industry but a blow to U.S. candy and soft drink makers who face paying more for the sweetener.

...

"The likely result is that the growers, particularly in the United States, will make more money, and the consumers will pick up the tab," said National Foreign Trade Council president Bill Reinsch.

In other words, unless Congress puts a damper on the sugar industry, you are going to feel the increase anyway by its sheer power of persuasion to make you pay even more for your deadly habits.

 

[gsdx]

The numbers vary by list, but there are there are over 50 names for sugar. I've even notices on bottles of Heinz ketchup that HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is now listed as 'liquid sugar'. Here's a list of 56 names: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/different-names-for-sugar

It goes far beyond refined sugar.

I think a tax is a great idea. And, while they're at it, how about a tax on sodium?

 

[xbuzzerx]

I would much rather stop subsidizing HFCS first before making it even more economically appealing (compellingly so, even) compared to sugar.

 

[Alnitak]

The numbers vary by list, but there are there are over 50 names for sugar. I've even notices on bottles of Heinz ketchup that HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is now listed as 'liquid sugar'. Here's a list of 56 names: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/different-names-for-sugar

It goes far beyond refined sugar.

I think a tax is a great idea. And, while they're at it, how about a tax on sodium?

How bad is our sodium intake? Is it really that much of a problem? I'm not sure.

 

[gsdx]

^ The average daily intake for adults is 2,300 mg of sodium. Adults with high blood pressure should limit their intake to 1,500 mg. Dining out, especially at fast-food places, can easily surpass these amounts, and, like sugar, there are health risks associated with it, some of which are high blood pressure, water retention, and heart disease.

Food processors have made a lot of people addicted to salt and sugar, and the health problems associated with them cost millions of dollars per year. The centre aisles of grocery stores are deadly.

 

[sixthson]

Now I want some chocolate.

 

[Benvolio]

Liberals will not be happy until they tell us what we are allowed to eat and not eat. Yet, I favor a heavy tax on sugar as a way to collect something from the half+ who pay no income tax. I doubt that it will hurt the sugar industry at all.

 

[TX-Beau]

Liberals will not be happy until they tell us what we are allowed to eat and not eat. Yet, I favor a heavy tax on sugar as a way to collect something from the half+ who pay no income tax. I doubt that it will hurt the sugar industry at all.

Oh Ben, I'd loooooovvvveeeeeee to tell you what to eat!

 

[Alnitak]

Liberals will not be happy until they tell us what we are allowed to eat and not eat. Yet, I favor a heavy tax on sugar as a way to collect something from the half+ who pay no income tax. I doubt that it will hurt the sugar industry at all.

Fair enough. What if the proceeds were to be spent on the public health problems that such industries promote?

 

[chrisrobin]

Oh Ben, I'd loooooovvvveeeeeee to tell you what to eat!

He already does.

 

[chrisrobin]

I recall the sales and distribution of alcoholic beverages was prohibited. Didn't work out too well.

Michelle Obama has been offering suggestions and guidelines for better nutrition, etc. The key word here is guidelines. She has never sanctioned government control. Education is the way to go here.

There are warning labels on tobacco products but they are not prohibited. (Tobacco products have been taxed heavily so they might not fit into the equation.) Warning labels? Of course. "The Surgeon General has determined...blah...blah...blah."

If you're going to tax sugar, you might as well tax:

• Trans fats (such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) - heart attack and stroke.
• Same for saturated fat.
• Butter and eggs - too much cholesterol.

Where does it stop? At guidelines, IMHO.

 

[luckynumbah7]

They could try making fruits and vegetables more affordable, too. One grocer here as a head of cauliflower for damn near 4 bucks, while the one that's a fifteen minute bus ride is a buck twenty. Such a price difference is deliberate and the cheaper one is in a much richer neighborhood.

 

[bankside]

The sugar lobby is not discussed often enough despite being one of the most toxic industries to society and health. If more people were aware that the obesity epidemic is strongly linked to industry bigwigs and not just a personal and social problem, some simple solutions could shed America of millions of tons of unhealthy weight - such as a tax on sugar.



Such power from a penny tax per ounce. Yet we have seen it work on the tobacco industry, which has been crushed along with declining cancer rates since the 1990s.



Yet nothing is being done about sugar.



For those who bleat at the increase, the sugar lobby is getting its way in more ways than just laying on 100 lbs on every man and woman in America.



In other words, unless Congress puts a damper on the sugar industry, you are going to feel the increase anyway by its sheer power of persuasion to make you pay even more for your deadly habits.

If a tax will effectively cut sugar consumption, wouldn't a protectionist US sugar cartel that drives the price up by blocking imported sugar essentially accomplish the same thing?

 

[bankside]

They could try making fruits and vegetables more affordable, too. One grocer here as a head of cauliflower for damn near 4 bucks, while the one that's a fifteen minute bus ride is a buck twenty. Such a price difference is deliberate and the cheaper one is in a much richer neighborhood.

How do you make vegetables more affordable? Cut the quality? Pay the labourers less? Sell shitty old vegetables once all the nutrition has wilted out of them?

 

[luckynumbah7]

Try not charging poor people an extra 3 bucks for the same product.

 

[bankside]

Try not charging poor people an extra 3 bucks for the same product.

It's a convenience thing though. If 20 minutes on a bus is too much of a hassle for the people living next to my store to save a buck, I'd charge more too.

 

[TX-Beau]

Perhaps in some places that might be true, but there are also some places like some Indian Reservations I've been on where that wilted nutritiousness produce is twice or more the price of the nice fresh produce I can find at my local supermarket - and there is no bus there to take them anywhere else. Nor are there many jobs paying so they can buy it in the first place.

I also know that even where I live it's cheaper to eat processed crap than fresh fruits and vegetables - mostly because of farm subsides making the crap cheaper. It's not so simple as just telling people to buy something else. Bad habits certainly play a part, but it used to be that home cooking from scratch was cheaper, that's not the case anymore.

 

[Alnitak]

If a tax will effectively cut sugar consumption, wouldn't a protectionist US sugar cartel that drives the price up by blocking imported sugar essentially accomplish the same thing?

To what end? That it benefits the industry to the extent that it can continue marketing more product.

 

[bankside]

It's also a shipping thing. Vegetables cost money to get to places far away from where they are grown. Costs even more to get them to a small remote village far from the big city.

BTW, just so you know, I'd be paying $5.49 for a head of cauliflower today, which is apparently $4.46 in US dollars.

Admittedly this was the easily googlable nice place that delivers, but it will have to do because i don't eat it that often from the nearest place we go to and I have no idea how much it would be there.

But again, you know you're getting gouged at a place that does delivery. You know you're getting a bargain if you're willing to drive out to the supermegastore.

Those costs are nothing compared to fresh produce up north.

 

[TX-Beau]

My little sister moved to Alaska with her husband (because they will pay off his student loans) - I was SHOCKED how expensive produce cost way up there.