Sweet Budget Relief

You"ve got to admit that we are a bit inconsistent about the way we make our laws. We tax the hell out of evil cigarettes, which, even as they suck the life out of people, are legal. Yet we arrest people for using marijuana, despite the fact that doing so can bring them respite from terrible diseases, like cancer and glaucoma. We could tax marijuana, but we choose not to. We know that obesity is rampant in this country and sugar use by Americans is off the charts. But we don"t tax sugar-laden soda, even though our health commissioner tells us that this is the time to do just that. When people argue that sugar in sodas is the great Satan that is making our population fat, the soda companies reply that there are far worse things than their product. Their allies argue that we are talking trash because proposals to tax sodas that have sugar do not include proposals to tax other drinks, like those with aspartame, which some think is a highly suspicious chemical ingredient. Meanwhile, type 2 diabetes has become a national epidemic that is scaring the stuffing out of our medical community. But hey, this is America, where enough lobbyists and enough money can put a stop to ideas that protect the public. The unpopular (but often right) Gov. David Paterson is in favor of the tax on soft drinks. He expects that the revenues a new tax could generate will balance the budget. Some members of the Legislature, sensing impending doom in the coming elections, do not want people weaned from their sodas and have pronounced the new soda tax dead on arrival. The problem for opponents is that there really isn"t enough money to balance the budget. The school districts, hospitals and local governments are all crying the blues. But out of adversity can come some good. I have no doubt that the single biggest problem with passing the soda tax is the fact that the Pepsi Cola Company is a big asset for the state of New York. Our decision makers do not want to alienate the firm. If Pepsi picked up and moved across the Hudson River to New Jersey, New York would be in big trouble. There is a current libertarian streak running through this country. People know that every time you put a tax on a popular product like soda, the little people are expected to pay proportionately more than their share. Economists call this a regressive tax, and it is. Health Commissioner Richard Daines is wildly in favor of the tax. He feels that it will save lives and he believes that just as the tax on cigarettes has helped cut down on the consumption of that killer product, the same thing will happen when taxes drive up the price of soda. Mothers and fathers, boards of education and school administrators have already removed soda machines from schools. They know full well that our kids need to be protected. It stands to reason that in removing soda machines from schools, we are acknowledging their potential for harm. This is a budget crisis year and people distrust the Legislature. As our lawmakers look for ways to protect people from themselves, they may want to think about doing the right thing.