Ask Vermont Moms: Should Sugary Drinks Be Taxed in Vermont?

Vermont leads the pack when it comes to healthy states.  Now, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell proposes another way to help make Vermonters healthier:  tax sugar-sweetened beverages.  The health rationale behind the tax is to cut down on obesity by discouraging consumption of sugary drinks.

Though at least half the money raised by the sugar tax would go toward improving Vermonters’ health, the tax proposal is generating buzz–including controversy–around the State and in the Statehouse.  Apparently, there’s already even a Facebook page dedicated to fighting the tax proposal.

Between skyrocketing health costs, including those health expenses related to obesity, and studies linking sugary beverage consumption and poor health, including cancer, politics aside, perhaps it’s finally time that sugar is thrust into the spotlight.

Moms, weigh in here….after all, you know best! Should sugary

drinks be taxed in Vermont?  Will discussion of taxation alone and the media spotlight bring awareness to the health issue or will politics obscure the health argument?  Will the debate boil down to soda drinkers vs. non-soda drinkers?  In your mind, how does this tax differ or compare from taxing tobacco products?  Would such a tax ultimately improve Vermonters’ health and reduce health care costs?