One of the many proposed policies aimed at reducing obesity is a beverage tax. New York State has proposed a one cent tax on sugary drinks.

Coca Cola and their lobbying group, the American Beverage Association, are fighting it hard. They've been running commercials about how this is going to cost working families more money and how they're putting in better options into the soda machines at schools.

Supporters say that a beverage tax is no different than the tax on cigarettes, which has helped reduce smoking. It can raise billions of dollars that can be used for good programs. If the tax money that is raised goes directly to the communities that consume these beverages, then it's not a poor tax, like the lottery.

In Diane Sawyer's documentary of Appalachia, she has a long discussion of how the huge consumption of Mountain Dew in that area results in horrible tooth decay by age 30. 

There's a 7/11 about 50 yards from Jonah's middle school. After school, hundreds of kids load up on Slurpies everyday on their way home. A good number of them drink Slurpies for breakfast before school as well. 

Jane Brody from the New York Times reports, "In the last half-century, consumption of sugars by the average American
has increased by more than 24 pounds a year, expanding waistlines and
crowding out more nutritious foods." She discusses the latest research on the problems with soda.

A one cent tax alone isn't going to change consumption habits and probably won't make anyone thinner, but it will raise some good money and help raise awareness that soda shouldn't be an everyday habit. Fast food restaurants should also be pressured to not make soda the default drink in combo specials. Soda machines should not exist in schools. I want the same anti-soda messages in health class at school, just like the anti-smoking messages that my kid has had to learn about since first grade.