Nanny-state liberals are elated: They have discovered that if you tax something—in this case, sugary drink consumption—you get less of it. Now, if they would only apply that new-found knowledge to every other aspect of the economy.
That bastion of American socialism, Berkeley, California, last year became the first U.S. city to impose a tax on the purchase of sugary drinks—a penny per ounce.
Researchers interviewed low-income city residents both before and after the tax went into effect and recently published their findings online at the American Journal of Public Health. They found that sugary drink consumption in low-income areas declined 21 percent after the tax was imposed, while the consumption of water increased by 63 percent.
The nannies now realize they have one more weapon in their arsenal to control people’s lives so that more of us live the way the nannies think we should.
But perhaps more importantly, the study confirms something conservatives and libertarians have been saying forever: taxes affect behavior. Tax something and you get less of it; subsidize something and you get more of it.
Assuming the study’s findings are accurate, then liberals see that imposing a fairly small tax on sugary drinks discourages many people from consuming them. So:
- Why don’t they think imposing high taxes on individuals and companies affects how, or whether, they invest their money?
- Why don’t nannies think that forcing multinational corporations to pay additional taxes if they bring their overseas profits home will discourage them from doing so?
- And why wouldn’t imposing a higher tax on labor—which is essentially what a $15.00 minimum wage mandate is—discourage employers from “consuming” (that is, hiring) more workers?
President Obama has managed to raise taxes many times in his nearly eight years in office, and the economy has remained predictably sluggish. Yet Hillary Clinton wants to raise taxes even more.
The nannies are thrilled that imposing taxes on sugary drinks encouraged people to cut back on them. Those nannies need to understand that imposing higher taxes on earnings, savings and investment will have a similar impact.