Image of a soda machine with text, "Soda, Now With Added Tax!"

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Should You Pay More For Sugary Drinks?

In Boulder, Colorado, you have to pay extra for your favorite sports drink. It’s one of several U.S. cities where shoppers are charged an extra tax when they buy soda, sweetened teas, and other sugary drinks. The tax is usually a penny or two per ounce. That means that the price of a regular-sized can of soda, for example, goes up by as much as 24 cents. 

The tax is meant to discourage people from buying drinks that are loaded with sugar and have little nutritional value. A recent study found that the plan is working. In five cities with the extra tax, sales of sweetened drinks dropped by 33 percent. 

“By buying less of these products, people aren’t consuming as much sugar as they would otherwise,” says Scott Kaplan. He’s one of the authors of the study. 

Nutrition experts say that’s a good thing. Drinking too many sugary beverages increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and other health problems.

But other people think putting an extra tax on sugary drinks won’t do much to improve people’s health. They argue that it’s better to encourage Americans to make lifestyle changes, like exercising more often.

Here’s what two of our readers think.

Sugary beverages aren’t healthy for us. But a survey found that about 6 in 10 kids drink at least one sweetened beverage a day. Just one serving of a sugary drink daily could put you at higher risk for heart disease, according to the American Heart Association. That’s scary! 

An extra tax would make sugary drinks more expensive, so fewer people might buy them. They might start choosing better options, like water, and get healthier in the process.

If the government wants people to be healthier, forcing them to pay more for sweetened drinks isn’t the answer. Many other treats are unhealthy, so singling out sugary drinks doesn’t make sense. What we eat and drink is a personal choice, and we shouldn’t be punished for it. 

Why not lower the prices of healthy foods, like fruits, instead? Also, teaching people to build healthy habits, like taking daily walks, would be more beneficial than making them pay more taxes.

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