Anti-tax: One big band-aid?

One of the biggest problems with the proposed Soda Tax is that in essence it is a solve-all solution with a complex problem. It is a band-aid for a tummy ache, or in this case a growing tummy. Kelly Brownell, a professor of psychology and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University argues that MORE than just the Soda Tax will lead to real change. Community programs to fight obesity and encourage active lifestyles are needed as well as a major re-haul on the way food is marketed. “Until healthful foods routinely cost less than unhealthful ones, getting people -- especially low-income people -- to eat them will remain a challenge, he says.”

From everything that Brownell and many others are pushing for in lieu of the Soda Tax argument one thing stands out, government involvement. Shouldn’t weight problems, exercise and diet be a matter of personal responsibility? Should the government influence what kind of food you buy?

Jennifer LaRue Huget, a columnist for the Washington Post argues that the entire “band-aid” of the Soda Tax “smacks of paternalism and over-reliance on government intervention . . . Brownell counters that the ubiquity and marketing of fattening food stack the deck against individual willpower, and their allure is more than many people can resist on their own, no matter how responsible they are.” Two major problems with the Soda Tax are brought up here- it is a solve-all solution for a complex problem and it requires TOO much government intervention.

Written by Bekah