Albany has been in the news a lot in recent days – for distressing reasons. In the process, key issues have fallen off State government’s radar screen. However, they need to be back on, and now. That includes closing a looming, $1.9 billion gap in funding for health care for the poor, and a $1.4 billion gap in state education aid that threatens big setbacks for our children’s schools.
I’m urging Albany to take one simple step to avert this crisis: Setting a penny-per-ounce tax on heavily sweetened sodas and beverages, and dedicating the revenue to education and Medicaid. An extra 12 cents on a can of soda would raise nearly $1 billion, allowing us to keep community health services open and teachers in the classroom. In addition, at the same time, it would help us fight a major problem plaguing our children: obesity.
Over the past eight years, New York City has become a recognized leader in improving public health because we’ve focused on solutions that work: Reducing smoking, discouraging use of trans-fats, requiring calorie-labeling in restaurants, and working with food companies to reduce the amount of sodium in their products.
High sugar intake from drinking sodas and other sweetened drinks is another growing health problem. Think about this – many people put a teaspoon or two of sugar in their coffee. However, a 12-ounce can of soda averages 10 teaspoons of sugar. Over the past 30 years, our consumption of these drinks has nearly tripled – and studies show that over the course of a year, for every increase of one can in a child’s daily consumption, his or her risk of obesity goes up by 60 percent. Over the long term, obesity increases the risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other killers.
By making heavily sugared drinks just a little bit more expensive, we can make a major dent in obesity – just as we’ve made a major dent in smoking by raising cigarette taxes. Today, compared to eight years ago, there are 350,000 fewer New Yorkers smoking. Our penny-per-ounce soda proposal would have a similar benefit.
These soda tax revenues should be dedicated to urgent community needs that challenge local governments across the state – namely Medicaid and education. If we do not act, the huge cut in state aid to schools in the governor’s proposed budget would translate into 8,500 fewer teachers in New York City this September. We would also see painful cuts to the city’s public hospitals.
In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by. Nevertheless, the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. Moreover, it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: In the classrooms and clinics.
