GUILFORD — This month, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a tax package that includes a half-cent-per-ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and artificially sweetened diet drinks.
This bill, H.481, is slated for a vote on floor of the House soon.
Some folks are for this tax, and others are against it. Those against the tax fear the tax will cause a rise in the price of these beverages which will be passed on to the consumer and force them to shop in bordering states, thereby hurting our local businesses.
Other opponents say this tax is so low that it will not affect spending habits.
This proposed tax will not be placed on the consumer at the cash register, but on the distributor, and it is the distributor's choice as to whether or not raise the price of these products.
Jim Harrison, president of the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association, has been quoted numerous times saying that this tax will raise the cost of these products.
Proponents of the bill, myself included, hope that the cost does rise and that hopefully this increase will influence and improve grocery-buying habits, thereby reducing the current sugar-fueled obesity epidemic.
Additionally, this sweetened-beverage excise tax will raise $17.6 million in one year. This money is appropriated for a variety of programs that are intended for and available to Vermonters to improve their health and well-being.
I work as a health coach for the Community Health Team at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Ninety-eight percent of the patients referred to me are seeking assistance to lose weight and for dietary/life style support for their overweight-related health conditions.
When working with referrals, my major goal is to help these individuals and families change their relationship with food and edible substances.
During my time as a health coach, I have found sugar- sweetened- and artificially sweetened beverages to be a primary part of many of my patient's daily nourishment. The major problem is that these products do not nourish; they are neither part of the new Choose My Plate, nor were they part of the older Food Pyramid.
Somehow, over the years, these products have become embedded in people's diets, and their accompanying extra calories have resulted in serious health concerns.
Twenty years ago, the average age of onset of Type 2 diabetes was 65. Now, that age has lowered dramatically. I have personally worked with 10-year-olds with Type 2 diabetes. New science hypothesizes that artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance, in addition to stimulating the body's natural sweet tooth to crave more and more sweets.
Hopefully, this tax is a beginning - opening the door as to what defines nourishment and clarifying what our bodies need to thrive in their most optimal state of health. Taxing things that are detrimental and using the funds to promote better health is a move in the right direction.
Write your state legislators and ask them to support this bill.