Soda Tax To Target Obesity

Katy Grimes: Another lame idea is being offered by Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty – this time ostensibly to help obese children. McCarty wants to tax sodas sold in the city at .1 cent per ounce. So, add at least a .10 cent tax to every soda sold in the city that will go right into city coffers.

McCarty says the money will go to programs for obese kids within the city’s parks and recreation department.

The Sacramento Parks and Rec department has been devastated by budget cuts, with the loss of more than 40 percent of park employees. In response, neighborhood associations throughout Sacramento have organized volunteer work groups to make up for the loss of maintenance.

This new found interest in helping obese kids is a flimsy, filmy veil over another ugly revenue booster.

And creating a new program in the parks and rec department while the city has a $30 million deficit is absurd… unless the real goal is to save union jobs. The Stationary Engineers Local 39, has been a big supporter of Councilman McCarty, and unwavering during labor negotiations with the city, refusing to allow cuts in pay or benefits for union members.

Add this to the recently passed crash tax, and it is apparent that Sacramento’s city council members are stark raving mad. While pimping a new arena to a favorite local developer, they passed the crash tax deterring visitors to the city.

The parks and recreation department doesn’t need a new program – it needs better prioritizing and cuts to some of the bloated recreation programs, like the city’s travel agency, and leisure enrichment classes.

Obese and overweight children need exercise during recess and P.E., which the schools have cut. Apparently exercising kids is just too big of a liability for school district lawyers, and teachers don’t like the smell of sweaty kids in the classroom.

Councilman McCarty should know that he’s quite transparent with this latest lame brained scheme to raise revenue. A tax increase is a tax increase.