Health Department supports added tax on soda and cigarettes

Dear Editor,

The Tioga County Health Department is in support of a tax being added to sugar beverages and cigarettes.

Saving lives, money on health care, and creating revenue for New York State are all very good reasons why it is a good idea to add a little tax to unhealthy products. Governor Paterson is proposing a way to do it by increasing the excise tax on cigarettes and introducing a new tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. The Governor has proposed a dollar increase in the New York cigarette excise tax and a one cent per ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

The proposed cigarette tax increase is estimated to decrease cigarette use by a total of 14 percent, helping to prevent instances of these serious health problems. Nearly 10,000 smoking-affected births would be avoided over the next five years. The tax increase would also prevent 106,500 children in New York from becoming smokers in the future.

Sugar-sweetened beverages include sweetened water, soda, sports drinks, "energy" drinks, sweetened bottled coffee or tea, and sweetened fruit or vegetable drinks containing less than 70% natural fruit or vegetable juice.

It is very clear that the CDC and nutritionists around the globe all agree that added sugars do in fact increase the risk of overweight. There really is a good and healthy reason for taxing these types of beverages and that is to focus on the outrageously rising obesity rate among children and adults.

New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health director Marion Nestle stated that "at this point, with obesity being such a problem in the United States and throughout the world, calories are the single most important issue to focus on."

So how can we get people to cut calories? According to the governor, the tax is expected to reduce consumption of sugar sweetened beverages by 10 to 15 percent and can save the average person about 25 calories per day, if not replaced by other calories. This would help the average New Yorker avoid two to three pounds of additional weight gain over a year. This can be a healthy enforcement for all!

Sincerely,

Tobacco Free Tioga County

Sign up for Text Alerts

Sign up for e-mail newsletters