"Taxes never made anyone healthy."
Seriously, this is the Americans Against Food Taxes best argument for opposing taxing soda and "juice drinks" in order to fund healthcare reform? (The link includes the TV spot itself, which I just saw on MSNBC.)
The Wall Street Journal outlines the soda tax plan in much greater detail than I care to here, but essentially, we're talking about a three cent tax on every 24 ounces of Mountain Dew Game Fuel or Snapple Strawberry Mango Madness to generate $24 billion over the next four years. We're talking about a penny and a half every time you chug a can of Pepsi or Dr Pepper.
The other reason the ad makes my head spin is the fact that it says, "Gee, we'd all be healthier if we ate better and got more exercise!" Guess what, folks? Soda is bad for you. High-fructose corn syrup-filled juice cocktails are bad for you. But the ad elevates these sugary drinks to a kind of sacred status, calling them "simple pleasures", far to precious to tax for something as trivial as raising money for healthcare reform.
As for their slogan, "Taxes never made anyone healthy," do any of these people expect to get social security benefits at any time in their lives? How about Medicare? Hmm. I guess they just don't care. After all, those things are just appendages of the evil specter Socialism. We can't have that, now, can we?
You might think from the ad that the AAFT is a grassroots group of flag-waving, tax-phobic, well-meaning citizens. Surprise! It's a huge organization, and most of the members are manufacturers and distributors of soda or soda ingredients. If this was about tobacco, we'd never hear the end of it.
EDIT: I noticed the AAFT had a form on its website that automatically emailed legislators. I decided to fuck with it. It's just a generic form that uses the user's email as the reply-to address. Those silly people even allowed the subject line of the email to be changed.
Subject: Confirmation of: TAX THOSE SUGARY DRINKS!
From: donotreply@votervoice.net
Date: 7/22/2009 11:22 PM
To: eaglecrash@gmail.com
***Please do not reply to this email--this confirmation simply lets you know that your message was sent.***
[myrealname]:
Thank you for supporting our effort. Your name, address, email and any personal
information will not be shared with others. You will receive periodic
emails from Americans Against Food Taxes. You can opt out at any time by
e-mailing unsubcribe@nofoodtaxes.com or via the link provided in all
communications.
Your message has been sent to the following recipients:
* Senator George Voinovich
* Senator Sherrod Brown
* Representative Steve LaTourette
The content of your message is as follows:
[Header will be placed here]
Dear [System will insert the recipient's name here]:
[My words, replacing the script:] I'm bucking the system. I'm using the AAFT's own website to implore you to approve the soda tax.
The proposed national tax on soda and juice drinks will raise an estimated $24 billion over the next 4 years for healthcare reform.
Please APPROVE the proposed soda and juice drinks tax.
Sincerely,
[myrealname]
[The system will insert address here.]
I promptly unsubscribed from their email list afterward. I've already gotten the email receipts from Congressman Steve LaTourette and Senator Sherrod Brown. Har har har. Of course, I know these mass emails don't actually get read. It just amused me to mess with them a little bit.
The Wall Street Journal outlines the soda tax plan in much greater detail than I care to here, but essentially, we're talking about a three cent tax on every 24 ounces of Mountain Dew Game Fuel or Snapple Strawberry Mango Madness to generate $24 billion over the next four years. We're talking about a penny and a half every time you chug a can of Pepsi or Dr Pepper.
The other reason the ad makes my head spin is the fact that it says, "Gee, we'd all be healthier if we ate better and got more exercise!" Guess what, folks? Soda is bad for you. High-fructose corn syrup-filled juice cocktails are bad for you. But the ad elevates these sugary drinks to a kind of sacred status, calling them "simple pleasures", far to precious to tax for something as trivial as raising money for healthcare reform.
As for their slogan, "Taxes never made anyone healthy," do any of these people expect to get social security benefits at any time in their lives? How about Medicare? Hmm. I guess they just don't care. After all, those things are just appendages of the evil specter Socialism. We can't have that, now, can we?
You might think from the ad that the AAFT is a grassroots group of flag-waving, tax-phobic, well-meaning citizens. Surprise! It's a huge organization, and most of the members are manufacturers and distributors of soda or soda ingredients. If this was about tobacco, we'd never hear the end of it.
EDIT: I noticed the AAFT had a form on its website that automatically emailed legislators. I decided to fuck with it. It's just a generic form that uses the user's email as the reply-to address. Those silly people even allowed the subject line of the email to be changed.
Subject: Confirmation of: TAX THOSE SUGARY DRINKS!
From: donotreply@votervoice.net
Date: 7/22/2009 11:22 PM
To: eaglecrash@gmail.com
***Please do not reply to this email--this confirmation simply lets you know that your message was sent.***
[myrealname]:
Thank you for supporting our effort. Your name, address, email and any personal
information will not be shared with others. You will receive periodic
emails from Americans Against Food Taxes. You can opt out at any time by
e-mailing unsubcribe@nofoodtaxes.com or via the link provided in all
communications.
Your message has been sent to the following recipients:
* Senator George Voinovich
* Senator Sherrod Brown
* Representative Steve LaTourette
The content of your message is as follows:
[Header will be placed here]
Dear [System will insert the recipient's name here]:
[My words, replacing the script:] I'm bucking the system. I'm using the AAFT's own website to implore you to approve the soda tax.
The proposed national tax on soda and juice drinks will raise an estimated $24 billion over the next 4 years for healthcare reform.
Please APPROVE the proposed soda and juice drinks tax.
Sincerely,
[myrealname]
[The system will insert address here.]
I promptly unsubscribed from their email list afterward. I've already gotten the email receipts from Congressman Steve LaTourette and Senator Sherrod Brown. Har har har. Of course, I know these mass emails don't actually get read. It just amused me to mess with them a little bit.