Should soda be taxed?NEWS FACT: On April 6, a new bill was proposed in both houses of Congress. If passed, it would require the U.S. Agriculture Department to revise nutritional standards for school meals to reduce portion sizes and the amounts of fats, sodium (salt), and sugars allowed. The bill would place the same limits on products in school vending machines. "Junk-food sales in schools are out of control," said Senator Tom Harkin Thomas Richard "Tom" Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is a Democratic Senator from Iowa, serving in his fourth senate term. A Democrat, he is currently Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Early life Harkin was born in Cumming, Iowa. (D, Iowa). Such food "steers kids toward a future of obesity and diet-related disease." In a recent New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times column, journalist Nicholas Krist of applauded the bill--but wanted more. One sixth of our caloric caloric /ca·lo·ric/ (kah-lor´ik) pertaining to heat or to calories. ca·lor·ic adj. 1. Of or relating to calories. 2. Of or relating to heat. intake, he pointed out, comes from sodas, iced teas, and sports drinks. Kristof proposed adding a tax of "5 cents per fluid ounce fluid ounce or fluidounce n. Abbr. fl oz, fl. oz. A unit of volume or capacity equal to 8 fluid drams or 29.57 milliliters. ... [on] all sweetened sweet·en v. sweet·ened, sweet·en·ing, sweet·ens v.tr. 1. To make sweet or sweeter by adding sugar, honey, saccharin, or another sweet substance. 2. To make more pleasant or agreeable. nondiet drinks." Adding taxes to cigarettes, he argued, helped reduce that unhealthy American habit. Why not do the same for this one? What do you think? Should soda and other sweetened soft drinks be taxed? Yes Thomas Elkins Jr., 12, supports Kristof's idea. "I think we should have to pay taxes on junk food junk food n. Any of various prepackaged snack foods high in calories but low in nutritional value. junk food ," says Thomas, a fifth-grader at Findley Academy in Akron, Ohio. "It's only fair. Anything that is not good for us, we should have to pay extra for." John Balderston, 14, an eighth-grader at Allendale Columbia School in Rochester, New York This article is about the city of Rochester in Monroe County. For the town in Ulster County, see Rochester, Ulster County, New York. Rochester, once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City or , agrees. "Obesity is unhealthy for your body and is especially terrible for your teeth. Putting a tax on soda will reduce bad teeth and help solve the problem many children in America have." Taylor Montfort-Eaton, 12, a seventh-grader at Allendale Columbia, thinks that the idea could work. "If we add tax," says Taylor, "people won't buy as many sodas as they used to." No Demian Spindler and Garrett Modeste, both 13, are eighth-graders at Allendale Columbia. Neither one thinks that taxing soda would solve the obesity problem. "If there is no tax on doughnuts," says Demian, "why should there be a tax on sodas?" Adds Garrett, "Why pick on soda when people will just get fat off of other things?" Their schoolmate, Eliza Barnes, 13, is a seventh-grader. "Kids like soda and shouldn't be penalized pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. for drinking it," she says. "If obesity is a problem, then kids should exercise, not stop drinking certain things." Ruseliz Luna, II, who attends Findley, has a different reason for opposing a soda tax. Says Ruseliz, "We pay too many taxes already. Get real!" |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion