Comments on: A Tax on Beverages with Sugar: A Money Grab http://www.ameribev.org/blog/2009/09/a-tax-on-beverages-with-sugar-a-money-grab/ Blog of the American Beverage Association Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:58:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Julianne Bierwirth http://www.ameribev.org/blog/2009/09/a-tax-on-beverages-with-sugar-a-money-grab/comment-page-1/#comment-1259 Julianne Bierwirth Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:08:03 +0000 http://www.ameribev.org/blog/?p=744#comment-1259 As a public health graduate student in the area of human nutrition, I have to strongly disagree with you. Other than a rep at the ABA, I’m not sure who wrote this article, but your claims are unsubstantiated. Can you please direct us to the proof that this will not work? Most importantly, the people in this nation who suffer the highest rate of obesity are those with the lowest annual income. The reason is that farm subsidies and agricultural overproduction (both of which play a roll in the low price of high fructose corn syrup) have made unhealthy foods very very inexpensive. Unlike the tax on cigarettes, the sugary drink tax would work because sugar is not chemically addictive, and if these at risk populations can no longer afford these drinks, they can simply stop buying them. I believe the burden is upon YOU, American Beverage Association, to create healthy drinks (less fructose, more nutrients) that are also affordable. The fact that the government is taxing you should be a warning, that like the cigarette companies, your corporate greed has overwhelmed your sense of moral responsibility to the health of Americans. As a public health graduate student in the area of human nutrition, I have to strongly disagree with you. Other than a rep at the ABA, I’m not sure who wrote this article, but your claims are unsubstantiated. Can you please direct us to the proof that this will not work? Most importantly, the people in this nation who suffer the highest rate of obesity are those with the lowest annual income. The reason is that farm subsidies and agricultural overproduction (both of which play a roll in the low price of high fructose corn syrup) have made unhealthy foods very very inexpensive. Unlike the tax on cigarettes, the sugary drink tax would work because sugar is not chemically addictive, and if these at risk populations can no longer afford these drinks, they can simply stop buying them.

I believe the burden is upon YOU, American Beverage Association, to create healthy drinks (less fructose, more nutrients) that are also affordable. The fact that the government is taxing you should be a warning, that like the cigarette companies, your corporate greed has overwhelmed your sense of moral responsibility to the health of Americans.

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