You want the calories? Pay for them!

A day ahead of a state symposium on the issue, Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement regarding the proposed tax on sugary drinks. He said that “…the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in the classrooms and clinics.”


The tax hopes to curb the rising obesity rates in the City, and stand as a health example to cities around the country. It would also help to fill the coffers of a city reeling from economic downturn. In it, sugary drinks including soda would have a one cent per ounce tax added to them. The choice of buying the product is, as always, the consumers to make.

While public support for the initiative has been lacking, Bloomberg seems to think that the tide of opinion is turning. After all that he and the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have done over the past several years, why should we question their intent? New York City is quickly becoming a bastion of healthy living. From placarded calorie counts, to clean air initiatives, to sensationalistic public service announcements, we are becoming healthier. A soda tax would do well to keep this momentum going, while benefiting a city that could use the help.