As New York once again considers an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, John Stossel will use tonight’s show (“Stossel;” Fox Business Network; 8:00 p.m. ET) to push back against the “food police,” whom he states are “eroding our basic freedoms – the freedom to buy what we want, eat what we want, drink what we want, and raise our children as we see fit.” As he does in his blog, we can likely expect him to address the ideological, scientific and policy reasons as to why a soda tax is the wrong approach.

We hope you’ll tune in to hear Stossel’s point of view. And if you’re interested in learning more about the proposed tax in New York, check out New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes, a coalition of concerned New Yorkers (“hard working individuals, struggling families, and already burdened small businesses”) who are opposed to the idea.

This year’s proposal would make the tax on a 12 pack of soft drinks more than 9 times higher than the current state tax on a 12 pack of alcoholic beverages, like beer. High beverage taxes such as these put good-paying, New York jobs at risk. And real world experience indicates that beverage taxes don’t make people healthier. In fact, West Virginia and Arkansas are the only two states with excise taxes on soda, yet they are among the 10 most obese states in the nation.

The tax is opposed by the New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes coalition, which is made up of businesses, business groups and thousands of New York residents across the state.
The coalition recognizes the need to balance New York’s budget. And while this is not to be taken lightly, there is a better way to balance the budget than to target one portion of the items in our grocery cart for additional taxation.

As New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes Chairman Nelson Eusebio put it, “New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet in this economy and we shouldn’t bear the burden of fixing the Governor’s budget problems. Another tax will be detrimental to hardworking New York businesses and residents.”