NYC – Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wants Albany to get back to work on the state budget, and today called for a one cent an ounce tax on soda during his weekly radio address, which aired this morning on 1010 WINS News Radio.
Noting that “Albany has been in the news a lot in recent days – for distressing reasons. In the process, key issues have fallen off State government’s radar screen” Bloomberg called on the legislature to get back to work – immediately. The mayor said that includes closing a looming, $1.9 billion gap in funding for healthcare for the poor, and a $1.4 billion gap in state education aid that threatens big setbacks for our children’s schools and said that a fast and easy way to do so would be to enact a one cent per ounce tax on beverages with high sugar content, which he says would not only help to bridge a huge budget gap, but also help to fight obesity.
“Today, I’m urging Albany to take one simple step to avert this crisis: Setting a penny-per-ounce tax on heavily sweetened sodas and beverages, and dedicating the revenue to education and Medicaid,” said Bloomberg. “An extra 12 cents on a can of soda would raise nearly $1 billion, allowing us to keep community health services open and teachers in the classroom. And, at the same time, it would help us fight a major problem plaguing our children: obesity.
This is by no means the first time Bloomberg has gone after foods he felt were unhealthy. Since the mayor took office in 2002, New York City has become a recognized leader in improving public health because we’ve focused on solutions that work: reducing smoking, discouraging use of trans-fats, requiring calorie-labeling in restaurants, and working with food companies to reduce the amount of sodium in their products.
“High sugar intake from drinking sodas and other sweetened drinks is another growing health problem. Think about this: Lots of people put a teaspoon or two of sugar in their coffee. But a 12-ounce can of soda averages 10 teaspoons of sugar,” added Bloomberg.
“In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by,” said Bloomberg. “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.”
(Source: http://www.examiner.com/)
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10 Responses
Well, you voted for him so Grin & Bare it.
I am not one to say that I like paying taxes- far from it. But this actually makes a lot of sense.
I did not vote for him and I tried to warn people about him.
What’s next a pizza tax?!
This tax will be an enforcement nightmare.
Everyone will drive just outside the state to buy their soda.
Inspecting every car entering the state for contraband soda is impractical.
Cigarette taxes are already a big mess.
His a liberal heck and we are stock with him for another 4 years. I begged all of the Yiden not to vote for this two face. Hashem Yerachem on us.
It’s not just about the taxing nightmare (though that too is an excellent point)of people going out of state to buy soda.
It’s about the very idea that everything we have and use and buy and do is being taxed till no oen will have anything left and no one will be able to walk around in their own home without eventually some kind of tax on that too.
Liberals hate freedom which is why everything anyone does or uses they want to tax.
More taxes on more things means less freedom which is the exact opposite of the very reason, this country was founded.
I don’t usually buy or drink soda, but, i think taxing soft drinks is going too far. It’s bad enough to have taxes on just about everything else. Did you ever look at your phone bill and see how much goes to pay taxes? The consumer has to pay the taxes for the service provider, it seems.
When did the mayor become a democrat? As I remember he was originally elected as a REPUBLICAN, and the GOP is welcome to him.
#9 Right after the election he admitted he fooled most people and that his run as a “Republican” was only to have a wide open primary with no one to oppose him, unlike the Democrat primary which was full of contenders.
He used typical liberal tactics and was not ashamed ti stoop so low as to try and fool everyone.
Some of us however, saw right through him.