 A new study by the Cook County Department of Public Health said
Illinoisans are set to drink 6.6 billion 12-ounce cans of soda,
sports drinks and other sugary beverages in 2011.That could mean
big bucks for the state if lawmakers were to enact a tax of 2 cents
per ounce. The tax would be levied on regular soda, diet soda and
other sugar-sweetened drinks. A standard 12-ounce can of soda would
cost 24 cents more under the proposed tax.
The study also suggested that the state and private employers
would save at least $200 million in health care costs by imposing
the tax.
Elissa Bassler, director of the Illinois Public Health Institute,
or IPHI, said any revenue generated by the tax should be put into
obesity prevention and reduction programs, instead of being absorbed
in the state's "budgetary black hole."
The institute, which explores health issues in Illinois, worked
closely with the Cook County Health Department in developing the
report, Bassler said.
"I think that it helps to demonstrate what the possibilities are
for what a sugary beverage tax might accomplish," she said.
The suggested tax of 2 cents per ounce on sugary drinks would be
on top of a 6.25 percent tax -- or 6.25 cents on every $1 charged --
imposed by legislators two years ago to help fund the state's $31
billion capital program.
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said lawmakers are unlikely
to have a taste for tax hikes, especially considering the state
increased individual income taxes by 67 percent last year.
"I just don't see, especially in this (political) climate, there
being a lot of support for that," Syverson said.
Syverson serves on the state Senate Public Health Committee, the
same committee where a similar soda-tax plan stalled during the
Legislature's spring session.
The report, released Monday, focuses on the health side of the
argument instead of the tax side.
Consumption of sugary beverages now makes up almost 10 percent of
the calories the average person consumes during the day, according
to the study. Sugary beverages made up just 4 percent of a person's
caloric intake in 1978.
The jump in sugary drinks has led to 1 in 4 Illinoisans becoming
obese, weighing at least 20 percent more than their ideal weight.
The higher the cost of a 12-ounce can of soda, the less likely
someone is to drink the 120 calories of sugar, the study says.
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Tim Bramlet, director of the Illinois Beverage Association, which
lobbies on behalf of the beverage industry, said a tax on soda would
have unintended financial consequences on those who can least afford
it.
"This would be a tax on Illinois consumers, especially
middle-income and lower-income folks," Bramlet said.
The study agrees that low-income consumers would be hit the
hardest, only because middle- to low-income consumers drink the most
sugary beverages.
Additionally, according to the study, it is that exact
demographic -- middle- to low-income consumers -- who are enrolled
in Medicaid who cost the state the most in terms of health care and
have a higher chance of suffering from health issues related to
obesity.
Bramlet said linking sugary drinks to obesity is a bit of a
fallacy.
"We don't view these products as unhealthy. ... When consumed
responsibly, these products are harmless. People just have to be
smart about how to use them," he said.
Bramlet added that the nonalcoholic beverage industry directly
employs about 7,000 people in the state. If a tax on beverages was
enacted, many of those employees could lose their jobs, he said.
If the government wants to help people slim down, it should start
by setting a good example, not by increasing taxes, Syverson said.
He suggested excluding soda and other sugary drinks from the list
of what people can purchase with food stamps from the state. It's an
idea state Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Chicago, tried to get through the
General Assembly this spring. The move failed.
"If we were roaring right now and the economy were humming along,
... you could look at a different tax structure for sugary soft
drinks. But the way that it is right now, where there's a backlash
to any taxing, with good reason, that's not the right conversation
to be having," Zalewski said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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