U.N. agency pushes global soda taxes to curb obesity, fight disease

[Geee]

Washington Times:

The United Nations jumped into the soda wars Tuesday, urging the nations of the world to start taxing everything from Pepsi to papaya juice as a way to trim expanding global waistlines and fight diseases such as diabetes.

 

The World Health Organization, in a 36-page report released on World Obesity Day, said rising consumption of sodas, sports drinks and even pure fruit juices had contributed to a doubling of global obesity rates from 1980 through 2014. A 20 percent tax on such drinks would produce roughly a comparable reduction in consumption, in line with the way government taxes on tobacco had reduced smoking rates.

 

While private critics and the beverage industry say higher taxes have not proven effective in many cases, the U.N. agency said there was “strong evidence” that taxes can be a “very important tool” in the fight to reduce the consumption of “sugar-sweetened beverages.”

[SrWoodchuck]

Oh...gooody! We can have another worthless, venal, cloying, greedy & partisan government entity...above the one that is a faux-"Saud" of the American government.

 

More wealth redistribution?

 

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