Get ready to pay a special “sugar tax” on your favorite soft drinks, America.
In an address to attendees of the Soda Summit 2014, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro announced yesterday she was preparing legislation “to tax sugar-sweetened drinks like sodas in a way that reflects the serious damage they are doing to our health.”
The Democrat lawmaker cited sugar as a major contributor to “the obesity and diabetes epidemics afflicting our country,” and alleged that the poor suffer the most from America’s easy-sugar ways.
“Added sugar is pervasive and almost inescapable at the supermarket,” DeLauro said. “And of course, many times it is the sugary foods and drinks that are easiest for families living on the edge of poverty to afford. When a 2-liter of cola is 99 cents and blueberries are over three dollars, something has gone very wrong.”
The 12-term congresswoman expects her sugar tax bill will be introduced “in a matter of weeks.”
While DeLauro’s bill likely stands no chance of passing the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, it gives Americans a hint of what the future holds now that the federal government has become so actively involved in the nation’s health care system.
Through Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare-related health insurance subsidies, the feds have a vested financial interest in keeping you healthy – and that means regulating what you eat and drink.
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