Soda tax could trim waistlines, deficits

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- States could raise more than $10 billion annually by levying a tax of 7 cents per can of soda, trimming deficits and waistlines, a U.S. advocacy group says.

A paper by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington says that in one study, the 24 percent of adults who drink one or more non-diet sodas a day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight than adults who don't drink soda. Americans spend about $147 billion a year on medical expenditures related to obesity, of which half is paid with Medicare and Medicaid dollars, the report says.

On its Web site www.cspinet.org, the CSPI has a Liquid Candy Calculator enables legislative staff or citizens to calculate the revenue their state could raise from sales or excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.

"Soda is dirt cheap and promotes expensive and debilitating diseases, which in turn run up healthcare costs at all levels of government," Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the CSPI, said in a statement.

"Federal, state, and even local governments would be wise to institute or increase taxes on a product that causes so much medical and financial harm."

Currently, 25 states impose special taxes on soda and other beverages with added sugar, but these taxes are very small, Jacobson says.