Closing Arguments: Soft Drink Tax a Nanny State?

I am all for the tax proposal. There should be many more taxes like this!

I think Governor Patterson has a great idea on the sugar tax idea.. Too many parents let their kids drink lots of pop.

I think it is not right to tax non diet soft drinks. They are not concerned w/adult or children's health. That is the furtherest from their mind. They just keep finding ways for us to pay taxes to cover where they have went wrong. It's the same thing on beer/cigarettes-a way to get money and blame it on saving people's health.

I download music all the time from iTunes for when I work out. So explain to me how taxing my download "helps" me stay healthy? Give me a break!

I HAVE HAD TO CUT MY SPENDING. WHY DOSN"T THE STATE OF NEW YORK CUT ITS SPENDING INSTEAD OF STARTING NEW TAXES. LETS STOP FREE MEDICAL CARE. AND FREE HANDOUTS TO THE PEOPLE TO LAZY TO GET A JOB.

first i don't like the name of the tax !!! I find it insulting.What rite does the government have to tell you what u can drink.Regular pop in moderation will not hurt in my opinion.I am wondering what the soft drink makers think of this foolish tax.I am over weight i do drink diet pop. But it took a long time to get used to the taste.If this tax is going to go threw i suggest he find a different name for this foolish tax.

I believe there are more productive, healthy and professional ways to change the obesity crisis in this country. Taxing "fat" or "soon-to-be fat" Americans is not the way to approach a serious health epidemic.

i think it is a very healthy idea.

This tax is absurd. I will only support taxation only if all sweetened beverages are taxed equally. High-fructose corn syrup is definitely more natural than synthetic artificial sweeteners. Haven't Americans heard of quantity in moderation? Try spending 2 hrs searching for diet soda outside the USA.

The only reason people are opposing it is because we're too cheap to pay the extra cash for the LUXURY of having soft drinks. Nobody needs pop, and regular pop is particularly bad for one's health, but because it tastes better than a glass of water we think we're entitled to lots of it at a low cost. This is not a nanny state mentality. Banning the sale of soft drinks or the amount per sale would be nanny state mentality. This is putting a tax on something unhealthy for us, so if you're going to continue hurting yourself, at least something good will come of it. It's no different than a tax on cigarettes or alcohol. People will still pay it, people will still buy regular pop. But maybe the number of people will cut back or the revenue generated from the tax will put a significant dent in the deficit, in which case at least something good is coming from our bad habits of indulging in junk food.

The country doesn't another Tax on the already unemployed american public.Tax GM, Ford, Chrysler,or the finanical instituations that got the Welfare bail-outs.Tax will mainly affect the poor.

I object to tax on regular soda. To make us drink artificial soda that isn't the real soda. I'm not obese and neither is anyone in the family. To tax something that is enjoyed by so many and to force us to buy cancer causing drinks is absurd. Tax the video games and the systems that keep kids from doing outdoor activities. I will be traveling to Vermont to get mine if he does pass this absurd tax.

Ask me what I think, well I'll tell you. Are you out of your mind. This is outrageous. I am not argueing that there is an obesity problem in the US, but I am a 95lb 26 year old woman and my struggle all my life has been to keep weight on. Having artificial sweetener in my diet is not an option for me my body doesn't process it correctly and it causes me a lot of discomfort. So lets flip this coin regular soda is actually better for me than diet soda. How would it be fair for someone like me to have to pay more if I want a soft drink? This is completely outrageous and one sided, and I want to let you know that there is a flip side to this and because of that I can't even begin to describe how angered I am at the one sided ignorance. I am strongly opposed, diet soda is not more healthy for everyone, it's not more healthy for me. If soda is going to be taxed, tax it all equally or don't do it at all. This proposition should not be taken seriously by anyone, it really again makes me wonder, who are these idiots with power?

I object to tax on regular soda. To make us drink artificial soda that isn't the real soda. I'm not obese and neither is anyone in the family. To tax something that is enjoyed by so many and to force us to buy cancer causing drinks is absurd. Tax the video games and the systems that keep kids from doing outdoor activities. I will be traveling to Vermont to get mine if he does pass this absurd tax.

Diet soda is loaded with chemicals (linked to cancer in lab rats) and excess sodium. What's so healthy about that? Tax all soft drinks or none at all. I'd rather give my kid a Coke once in a while than get them hooked on all the toxic chemicals in diet sodas. I clean furniture with it.

Consider the Gov of NY to be on a proactive path toward health conscience normalcy. For decades, the Boomers have permitted their succesive generations to leave the consumption of soft drink beverages unlimited; yet, we weren't raised in a similar fashion. I recall a time when no more than a single soft drink was permitted during the week and no more than one per day on the weekend--if you were lucky enough to have a grandparent spot you one.

The regular soda tax is absurd. To make us drink soda made of cancer causing artificial sweeteners should be against the law. I will be going to Vermont to buy mine if this is passed. Tax the video games and the systems, that keep our kids indoors. Not the soda I and so many others enjoy. I don't drink coffee. So regular Pepsi or Coke is my caffeine.

After all the bad things I've heard about high fructose corn syrup being used to sweeten soda I switched to diet soda.

However; with diet soda, a number of OTHER health issues have been reported, such as voice problems, poor digestion, allergies, liver function and adrenal fatigue.

Furthermore, in 2005, Sharon Fowler and her colleagues from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio presented eight years of research data that explored the link between obesity risk and soft drinks.

According to the WebMD summary of the study, Fowler’s team looked at seven to eight years of data on 1,550 Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white Americans aged 25 to 64. Of the 622 study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.

For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

* 26% for up to 1/2 can each day
* 30.4% for 1/2 to one can each day
* 32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
* 47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.

For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

* 36.5% for up to 1/2 can each day
* 37.5% for 1/2 to one can each day
* 54.5% for 1 to 2 cans each day
* 57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.

For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person’s risk of obesity went up 41%.

Honestly, would you prefer a beverage that contains CANE SUGAR or one with a warning on the label that reads: "Caution Phenylketonurics - contains phenylalanine!"

Does New York State REALLY want to force people to drink a specific kind of sweetener only to discover down the road that it's on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit once it's discovered how bad these diet soda chemicals are?

Tax ALL SODA EQUALLY or NO SODA. None of them are any good for you.

I remember my uncle (who was a psychologist) not allowing my cousins to drink diet pop. This was due to the fact that at the time sacchrin was thought to possibly cause cancer in the bladder. (Note: According to the following web site http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080202160126AAoVzIM there are no documented studies of humans actually getting cancer.) I personally only drink about 1 12 pack of pepsi per month, but I do not really want to switch to diet soda and risk whatever health effects they may have over sugar. (If you want to raise taxes on soft drinks then just do it over the board.) If you want to raise taxes on sugar do that over the board as well. (If you buy a pound of sugar and use it. Then it is apparently bad for you. At least according to Gov. Paterson.) God did not create sacchrin, but if you believe in intelligent design than God did create Sugar.

I am obese and DO NOT drink soda of any kind. I have several young friends who drink regular soda and are very thin. I don't care whether or not a tax is imposed on soft drinks, but the tax should be on all soft drinks, candy and other non-essential food items. I DO OBJECT to calling the tax an obesity tax. Taxing such times will not stop obesity. Oh, by the way, studies show that diet soda is not good for weight loss and caffeine is a drug that interfers with insulin levels. Is this tax going to be on fast food, school lunches and the like? All institution food is really bad for children too (not to mention that most schools only give children a few minutes to eat--why do you think Europeans and other countries have less of an obesity problem? Most are given ample time to eat a healthy well-balanced meal.) Quick fixes never work either! Oh, by the way--I have lost 25 pounds since August with very little effort and I AM NOT ON A DIET! That is a four letter word! My favorite diet is "France."