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The concept behind the proposed San Francisco soft-drink fee described in the appended article, is too silly for words. That doesn't mean it isn't dangerous
Yes, I know that my political correct friends will say "High fructose corn syrup is bad for you blah, blah, blah." I mean no disrespect to my friends, but such comments are irrelevant to the issue at hand. Let me explain.
The proposed fee will be charged to those stores which sell sodas containing HFCS (mom and pop stores being exempted, though I can't see why). Safeway, Albertsons, Vons and every other supermarket that now sells soda will continue to sell soda. They will pass along to their customers the added cost imposed by the soda tax. There will be no nexus between the fee paid and the consumption of high fructose containing soda. The impact upon childhood obesity will be zero, zilch, nada.
 That said, the concept behind what the city of San Francisco is proposing is becoming increasing commonplace and few people are likely to call BS on what is clearly a BS idea. Someone needs to do it and it might as well be me.
In the name of a sound-good, touchy-feely cause --in this case childhood obesity-- San Francisco would impose a tax they will not call a tax. On the National Forests, the Recreation Access Tax is not called a tax and yet is most certainly a tax. The Forest Service has even made the claim that their recreation tax is a valuable tool in the fight against childhood obesity. I don't see that they're making a particularly valid point.
Fail to pay the forest tax and you've committed a criminal offense punishable by
a hefty fine. Stores won't fail to pay the syrup tax. It will be no skin off
their noses. They'll pass along the cost to the low-income mom shopping for her
obese kids who might like to walk in the woods, but can't afford that luxury or
who might like to eat more vegetables if only vegetables didn't cost so much.
The government will, of course, continue to subsidize the conversion of corn
into ethanol and you and I will pay that subsidy, but that's another BS idea
best dealt with separately.
You'll be pleased to know that the mayor of San Francisco said already said he has no intention of imposing a similar tax upon pizza. There's a real possible that he will impose a tax upon Hershey's milk chocolate, though Ghirardelli's ultra-premium chocolate will likely be exempt.
Scott
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December 18, 2007
San Francisco’s Mayor Proposes Fee on Sales of Sugary Soft Drinks
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO — In a move he says is necessary to trim the city’s
waistline, the decidedly slim mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, has
proposed charging big stores a fee when they sell sugar-sweet soda.
The proposal, which was reported by The San Francisco Chronicle on
Monday, would put an as yet-to-be-defined surcharge on all drinks with
high-fructose corn syrup, which puts the sweet pop in most nondiet
sodas and many other food products. The syrup also puts on the pounds,
something city officials say strains the health care system.
“There’s a well-established nexus between obesity, which is caused by
high-fructose corn syrup, and the increased health care costs for the
city,” said Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for the mayor. Money raised by
the fee would be spent on a variety of anti-obesity programs in the
city, said Mr. Ballard, including Shape Up SF, which challenges
residents here to exercise.
Soft-drink makers, however, called the mayor’s plan a “flawed strategy” that would have little effect on the city’s figure.
“It makes no sense to single out any one single cause of obesity, which
is a complex problem,” said Kevin Keane, a senior vice president of the
American Beverage Association, the trade group for $105-billion-a-year
nonalcoholic beverage industry.
Mr. Keane said that if Mr. Newsom really wanted to fight the fat, he
would take on computer and video game companies, which Mr. Keane said
lured children inside when they should “be outside burning calories.”
Mr. Newsom, a Diet Coke man who exercises regularly, already earned the
ire of beverage companies with a ban this year on bottled water at City
Hall, where staff members now drink filtered and cooled tap water. The
soda proposal will be introduced to the Board of Supervisors early next
year, Mr. Ballard said, and would affect only large retailers, not
mom-and-pop stores. As for levies on other child-friendly delicacies,
Mr. Ballard added, “The mayor has no intention of imposing a fee on
pizza.
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