Patterned After Arkansas, Idea of Popping Pops Gains Attention

Would a national tax on soft drinks be useful in fighting the war against obesity? A group of healthcare experts pushing the notion say a one cent-per-ounce tax on drinks with sugar could raise nearly $15 billion for health initiatives.

 

Arkansas Surgeon General Joseph W. Thompson, MD, MPH, a pediatrician and director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, and an associate professor in the UAMS Colleges of Medicine and Public Health, is among the proponents for the controversial plan, which could mimic the state tax adopted in Arkansas in 1992.

 

"Federal, state, and local governments utilize tax policies to shape social goals and objectives, respond to threats, raise revenues for needed programs, and offer incentives for specific actions," he explained, pointing to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggests a tax on soft drinks could help fight obesity. "The recent NEJM article highlighted the link between consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and obesity—the growing epidemic threatening our citizens and costing our nation hundreds of millions of dollars."

 

Importantly, Thompson pointed out, the link between federal agricultural subsidies for commodities such as corn, resulting in a glut of corn related products like corn-syrup, ends up being a major carbohydrate source in many products. The most commonly consumed are sugar-sweetened sodas, sports drinks, and increasingly water and milk. 

 

"Faced with the growing epidemic and associated costs to both the private and governmental sector, two actions of public policy should be considered," said Thompson, "First, a reduction in the subsidies that are causing the overproduction; and second, tax strategies to induce consumer response that reduces consumption of excess calories."

 

Determining specifics about taxing soda pops has sparked debate. In 1992, Arkansas lawmakers applied the tax to the syrup that goes into the soda pop, not a per-can tax. At this point, there's no specific national tax proposal. "Optimal impact on consumption would be to include all sugar-sweetened beverages," said Thompson.

 

The public has been skeptical about the proposed soda pop tax. Many have asked if diet sodas sweetened with aspartame or Splenda will also be taxed. 

 

"Local, state, and federal governments have the option of deciding whether to tax additional beverages," explained Thompson. "Diet beverages are not linked to the obesity epidemic, although concern exists because of the artificial sweeteners and other substances in them. Taken in moderation, the current evidence suggests the health risk of diet beverages is clearly less than that of SSBs. Clearly, the safest drinks are water and non-fat milk and should be those recommended by physicians."

 

Some people have suggested the proposed soda pop tax discriminates against the overweight. 

 

"Non-nutritious foods like sodas, and environmental issues like unsafe neighborhoods contribute to the obesity epidemic and our increasing healthcare costs," said Thompson. "Because low income communities and communities of color may not have access to healthy food choices, taxing SSBs is cause for concern. However, almost everywhere SSBs are sold, diet drinks and water are available also."

 

Some opponents to the plan expressed concern that high-fat or highly caloric foods like super-sized meals would be targeted next for taxation.

 

"A better idea is to help people make informed decisions about the calorie, fat and sugar content in the foods they eat through menu labeling and education," said Thompson. 

 

Whether the tax would be temporary or permanent would be up to the legislative entity applying the fee, Thompson pointed out, "but the health impact and costs associated with obesity will last through the next generation."

 

Despite public concern, polling clearly shows more support for a SSB tax if the revenue goes to health programs that offer support to those whom the tax affects, said Thompson. In Arkansas, the soda pop tax has been funneled to the state's Medicaid program for the last decade.

 

Kenneth Thorpe, a health policy researcher at Emory University, has said the politics of healthcare reform are too delicate right now to provoke an attack from the sugar and beverage industries. Thompson disagrees.