Katherine Mangu-Ward thinks the US government has an easier fix to the problem than taxing soda pop:
Subsidy packages to corn growers have been sweet in recent years, with an average of about $5 billion annually since 1995, and a bumper crop of cash in 2005 clocking in at about $9.4 billion. Many of the acres of corn grown in the United States wouldn’t be profitable if it weren’t for federal subsidies (as chronicled in the excellent documentary King Corn), yet those billions keep the cheap corn piling up around our waists.
But on the other hand, debt-ridden congressmen are now terrified for their livelihoods. They’re desperate for a way to fund healthcare reform — and taking credit for solving the obesity problem would be nice, too. So the Senate Finance Committee held hearings this spring to brainstorm some ways to gin up some cash. One of the proposals they entertained was a 3 cent tax per 12 ounces of soda, which would generate $24 billion over four years, according to a December report from the Congressional Budget Office.
The application of a little basic math reveals an interesting coincidence: The expected revenue from a soda tax and the expected subsidy payments to corn farmers come to almost the same amount — somewhere between $5 billion and $6 billion a year.
Great post. I will read your posts frequently. Added you to the RSS reader.
Comment by Mike Harmon — October 2, 2009 @ 13:01
[…] Utility These examples assume that you are using a Unix-like OS, with OpenSSL 0.9.6b or higher. Don’t tax the soft drinks: remove the subsidies instead – quotulatiousness.ca 10/02/2009 Katherine Mangu-Ward thinks the US government has an easier fix to […]
Pingback by Finance News: Credit as of October 2, 2009 | Zeet's World Of Finance — October 2, 2009 @ 12:49