Democrats debating taxing soft drinks in order to fund health care bill

July 7, 11:24 PMPolitical Buzz ExaminerRyan Witt

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Political Buzz Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Photo:  Business Wire

The Obama administration and Congress has wisely decided that any health care plan must be payed for when it is passed.  Increasing the debt through more entitlements would only worsen the already serious public debt problem.  The bill for the health care plan will be a hefty one of about one trillion dollars by most estimates.  The Obama administration has started to chip away at that total by announcing an agreement with hospitals to cut costs.  Still after that deduction an over 850 billion dollar tab still remains.

What has emerged as one of the serious proposals being considered is that of taxing "sugary" drinks.  Many congressional democrats are opposed to the "sugary" tax and rightfully so.

First, the idea just sounds ridiculous.  Can we seriously justify taxing coco-cola in order to pay for my broken leg ?  Republicans would have a field day if this ends up being the final proposal.  Congressmen opposed to the bill would use every speaking opportunity to highlight the tax by having a can of mountain dew or Pepsi front and center on the television set while they speak.

Secondly, the tax would essentially hurt lower income citizens the most.  The rich and upper-middle class could afford to switch to healthier drinks, more expensive drinks such as a fruit smoothie but the poor would continue buying their soft drinks only at higher prices.  The rich could also afford to pay the soft drink tax without seeing a large percentage of their income taken away but to the poor every dollar, or even penny, counts much more.

Finally the tax would fit perfectly with the Republican argument that Democrats are trying to "control" Americans and dictate American choices.  Republicans could argue that after this tax the Democrats will next be pushing for fat tax or an alcohol tax.  Republicans would argue the Democrats think they know what you should be eating and drinking more than you do.  This sort of argument could find some real appeal among middle class Americans.

The other proposals on the table are much more reasonable.  The Obama administration favors doing away with many deductions for the rich.  The Democrats could likely justify this tax more than the "sugary" tax.  Clinton was able to raise taxes on the rich significantly and still get re-elected so President Obama could certainly do a smaller version of the same increase.  Whatever the Democrats and Obama do they should certainly abandon the "sugary" tax.  Such an idea could prove a public relations nightmare and doom the health care bill before it even gets to a vote.