By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
pokoko said:
Teeqoz said:

Do you seriously think it has nothing to do with being an attempt to combat obesity? Why would they choose to tax this then, instead of some other random shit? Or just a general sales tax? Of course you adjust the general tax level to meet your expenses, but that doesn't mean the specific taxes that are imposed can't have other goals than just getting the extra money.

Furthermore, if you think it will have no effect, because people will just tax dodge instead of buying less soda, how does the distric get more tax revenue? I mean, no one will pay the tax because they will just go somewhere else to buy soda. So no extra tax revenue.

Stop making things up.  I said "poor job", not "no effect".  Surrounding areas are likely to see around a 20% increase in soda sales with an unknown spike in general sales.  And, yes, I think the politicians behind this are doing it for the tax revenue.  Otherwise, why not make the tax so high that no one would buy it at all?

Ouch, you got me there,  that completely changes my argument. I mean, if a few people pay the tax, instead of no one,  then that really does lead to a substantial difference in tax revenue, which much overcomes the economic disadvantage of retail sale leakage to other counties, so it will definitely lead to an increase in tax revenue for the district, but will still do a poor job at reducing soda sales. (for the record, this is sarcasm, I'm not "making things up" in this paragraph.)

No seriously, I didn't intentionally misquote you. In fact I didn't quote you at all. I didn't claim you said precisely that, it's just that it didn't matter for the sake of my argument. Didn't realise it would matter to you. Either the district really won't get any money out of it, or it will have a substantial effect. You can't have it both ways. That was my point.

And as for your last question, I believe it is because the politicians don't want to completely ban soda for people, just reduce consumption somewhat? But that's just what I think, I may be wrong.