Big gov hunting for taxes in sugar land

In case you’ve been too busy drinking your latest six pack of soda pop to notice, momentum is accelerating for the Federal Government (spelled Obama Democrats) to slap a tax on your sugar habit.

  Now that they’ve bombed cigarette smokers with a buck a pack tax, they’re taking aim at our collective waist-lines as a ruse to collect more taxes to attempt to pay for a trillion dollar deficit.  

So far, the final, final, final, final health care reform bill being scratched together by the Democratic majority doesn’t include the tax on soft drinks., But whether it finally is part of that bill, it is on the table and something which Obama has said needs to be explored.  All of this is being proposed, say all those who want it to happen, for our own good. They are worried about the curse of obesity in America and if they can slap a tax on our soft drinks, we will drink less sugar (calories) and at the same time raise billions of dollars for  Washington.

If the truth be told, they should try telling it and say that raising tax money for the Spending Goliath is the real reason for even considering the tax and our general health just happens to be a by-product. But who said anything about telling the truth in Washington, anyhow?

Thirty-three states already have some kind of tax on soft drinks and there is certainly no sign that obesity is on the wane.  As a matter of fact, five of the states among the most obese in the nation, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Oklahoma, have taxes on soft drinks and other sugary drinks. So much for that argument.

Taking the obesity fakery further, calories from  sugary drinks like Coke, Pepsi and the rest are only 5.5 percent of the average American diet.

   So if the DC solons are so interested in cutting down on our caloric intake, why stop at soft drinks?   Aha, there you have it.  What comes next?  It will sugarly be our candy bars, cookies, gum, ice cream, pudding and everything else containing sugar.  

And why stop at sugar?

  How about a tax on everything with salt?   After all, if we, the American people, are dumb enough to keep drinking soda pop which the government is proclaiming is not good for us, we must also be just as dumb to keep eating too much salt.  And what about a tax on regular milk and butter?   If we drink too much milk and spread too much butter on our bread, that is not good for us. And if it isn’t good for us, the government will, in all its righteousness, protect us from ourselves and slap a tax on it.

Health experts know that eating almost anything in excess will cause problems for anybody.  This, of course, plays into the hands of the TaxMakers, both at the city, state and federal level.

San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsome, is going to introduce legislation out there in lalaland to hit retailers who sell soft drinks with a new tax.  Gavin’s no dummy, of course, because by putting the tax on store owners, he only needs a yes vote from his Board of Supervisors.  If he tried to get a direct tax per can on soft drinks, it would take a vote of the people and he knows even in San Francisco, that would not pass.

When there were loud shouts for national change around the country one year ago, the majority got what they asked for.  Be careful what you wish for.

Lou Major Sr. was publisher of The Daily News for 34 years (1963-1997) and retired as CEO of Wick Communications.