Experts Weigh in on Soda Tax

sodaAmerica has become a nation of soda drinkers, and while large beverage corporations are loving it, heart health experts are not. Soda drinks are incredibly high in sugar, placing people who drink soda regularly at higher risk of diabetes and obesity. According to a Diabetes Care research report, those who drink more than two cans of soda per day are 26 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-soda drinkers. Soda also leads to obesity because, as Tara Holmes, research associate for the West Virginia Center, explains, “Liquid sugar bypasses the physiological regulatory system that controls appetite and food intake, so when you consume soda, it doesn’t make you feel full.”

Berkeley, California became a trailblazer back in 2015 when it became the nation’s first place to specifically tax soda at a rate higher than California’s state sales tax. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recently joined Berkeley in charging about 1 cent per ounce of soda. West Virginia itself also has a soda tax, which was actually established back in 1951 to gain revenue for West Virginia University’s medical, nursing, and dental schools. The state generates about $15 million each year on its soda tax, which is applied to every non-alcoholic packed beverage or powdered drink mix, excluding undiluted fruit and veggie juices and unsweetened milk.

West Virginia aside, soda tax is a very new idea and still requires years of research before any experts can reach conclusions regarding its effectiveness. One study by a researcher at the University of California indicated that Berkeley’s soda tax caused a 20 percent drop in soda consumption, but that figure includes a large margin of error and cannot make a direct correlation between the tax and consumption patterns.

These tax efforts boil down to one thing: communities around the country are realizing that drinking soda is dangerous to the heart and the rest of the body, and they are using that knowledge to creatively raise money for cash-strapped governments.