Should the government tax your coke? Why some lawmakers and health officials are pushing for a 'soda tax' on sugary drinks.

• Author: Neuman, William
• Position: Cover story

Soda is pretty much the only thing that 16-year-old Nieko Clow drinks. Sometimes he mixes Dr. Pepper with Mountain Dew--a concoction he calls "Dr. Dew." A junior at Stevens High School in Claremont, N.H., Nieko says he drinks about a 12-pack of soda on an average day.

That's a lot, but Nieko isn't alone. Americans drink a lot of soda. In fact, Americans drink more soda than any other kind of beverage (see box below). That's fueling a debate in Washington and in state capitals over whether sugary soft drinks should be subject to a special tax as a way to fight obesity and provide money for health-care reform. (Of course, the recession is also forcing many states and Washington to look for tax dollars wherever they can.)

It's part of a larger debate about so-called "junk food taxes" or "fat taxes" that have recently been imposed in Illinois and considered in New York, Arizona, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. The basic economic concept is that making something more expensive by taxing it discourages people from buying it. That's the thinking behind "sin taxes," which are often imposed on cigarettes and alcohol.

Recently, a team of prominent doctors, scientists, and policy makers said that a "soda tax" could be a powerful weapon in efforts to reduce obesity, in the same way that cigarette taxes have helped curb smoking.

The group, whose research appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, estimates that a tax of a penny an ounce on sugary beverages would raise $15 billion in its first year. The proposed tax would apply to soft drinks, energy drinks, sports beverages, and some juices and iced teas, but not to sugar-free diet drinks.

WOULD A TAX HELP?

The research indicates that a "soda tax" might lower Americans' consumption of soda and other sweet drinks enough to lead to a small amount of weight loss and reduced health risks for many Americans.

"More than any other category of food, sugar beverages have been linked by scientific studies to bad health outcomes," says Kelly D. Brownell, the lead author of the study and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. "That research is rock solid."

Brownell says that a penny an ounce tax would have a powerful impact on the nation's high obesity rate.

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But the soft-drink industry doesn't believe its products are responsible for America's obesity problem or that a tax would help curb the problem.

Muhtar Kent, the chief executive of Coca-Cola, calls...