TaxEsqBlog -by Ronald J. Cappuccio, J.D., LL.M.(Tax)

The Internet is filled with reports from a recent article in the Journal of American Public Health showing that a sugar tax cuts consumption of sugar sweetened soda. This plays right into the hands of Bradford manufacturers! You are probably thinking I am crazy, but once again government does the wrong thing. Sweetened sodas and diet sodas are sold for the same price. Nevertheless, diet sodas are much cheaper to manufacture than sodas with high fructose corn syrup and sodas with cane sugar. Therefore the tax on sweetened soft drinks increases the number of people drinking a diet soda, which is more profitable to the beverage industry, then naturally sugar sweetened soda and drinks. So, governments by misusing taxes to force people to change behavior, have in fact increase the profit of beverage manufacturers and increase diet drinks rather than healthier all-natural sugar sweetened drinks. Obviously, the intake of the sugar sweetened drinks should be limited, but every study that i...

This past Thursday, Philadelphia city Council, under the prodding of its mayor James Kenney, imposed a 1.5 sent tax per ounce of "sugary" soft drinks. The idea is to prevent obesity. Of course, this will prove to be totally useless for several reasons. First, even though the beverage industry is fighting these taxes, the truth is no one could be happier than the beverage industry. It is much more expensive to make a soft drink with sugar or high fructose corn syrup than with NutraSweet or any other varieties of artificial sweeteners. Even though study after study has shown that people who drink "diet" drinks do not lose any weight and fact may have a tendency to gain weight, the beverage industry pushes diet soda to make more profit. Now, Philadelphia, like some other big cities, has decided to play right into the hands of the beverage industry. More people will choose to save the tax (on a 20 ounce soda it is $.30) and start to drink diet sodas. The beverage in...