March 25, 2010: Vol. 33, No. 13

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March 25, 2010 / Brooklyn news

An anti-tax advocate says ‘No’

By Nelson Eusebio

for The Brooklyn Paper

Recently, there has been significant coverage around New York’s overwhelming budget deficit and Gov. Paterson’s proposal to resurrect the beverage tax on sugared-sweetened drinks. This year, his proposed tax is even worse than last. The governor wants to increase of the cost of sugar-sweetened drinks and sodas by over 50 percent!

Brooklyn residents — and all New Yorkers — already pay a state sales tax for their favorite beverages. This new proposal place an additional tax on sugared beverages including certain juice drinks, sports drinks, teas and sodas.

B&R Electronics

During today’s tough economic times, it is outrageous to think that New Yorkers should bear the burden of fixing the governor’s budget problems. This is not just another tax. This is an unfair tax that will be detrimental to hard-working New Yorkers who are already feeling penny-pinched.

Not only that, but it will undoubtedly take away business from local grocers and supermarkets, who support so many local neighborhoods.

In addition to the state’s budget woes, Gov. Paterson is citing rising obesity rates as the reason for this tax. Certainly, the issue of obesity is a valid public health concern. But taxes won’t make people healthy. A balanced diet and exercise will. Science shows that balancing calorie intake is what’s most important in trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

This tax is by no means a done deal. New Yorkers need to make their voices heard. In 2009, New Yorkers put pressure on the state government, and stopped the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in its tracks. The message was New Yorkers cannot handle any more of the governor’s irrational taxes and they won’t stand for it.

Unfortunately, it seems that the governor has a short memory and already forgot that the citizens of New York clearly said “NO!” to this tax one year ago.

Nelson Eusebio is the Chairman of New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes, a coalition that includes New York citizens and business groups.

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Reader Feedback

Matt says:

Yeah, this editorial is pretty silly. It's not an irrational tax; it makes a whole lot of sense in fact. If these foods are killing us (which they are), not only is it important to do something about it for moral reasons, it's important to do something about it for fiscal reasons as well. Bottom line: they're not the governor's budget problems; they're our budget problems. They're our problems when we can't pay folks to teach our kids, police our streets, and run our transit. Thanks for the thoughts, though. Your tux looks ridiculous.

March 25, 2010, 7:48 am

Betty from Buffalo says:

I cannot believe the governor is going to tax us on what we drink! I'm all for boycotting the drinks for a few weeks and letting the companies that manufacture them stand behind us. Does the governor even realize what it is like to be one of the little people who bear the brunt of his whims? What is it going to take for New Yorkers to get a fair shake? I'm ready to leave the state of taxes.

March 25, 2010, 4:44 pm

jane from ditmas park says:

They have no problem with allowing Paterson to cut billions from Medicaid, so many to suffer and die and don't try to stop it. They allow programs for the poor and homeless to be cut to the bone, causing more suffering and possible deaths. Yet heaven forbid they allow a few cents tax on poison that people, rich and poor should not be ingesting anyway.

The soda tax is the one good thing Paterson wants to do.

March 27, 2010, 11:47 pm

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