And this time advocates believe they can make Vermont the first state in the nation to place an excise tax on sugary sweetened beverages.
The proposal would place a 2-cent per ounce excise tax on distributors of sugar sweetened beverages. The cost would be passed on to consumers. A 2-liter bottle of soda would go up $1.30; a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew would increase 40 cents.
Anthony Iarrapino, the campaign director for the Alliance for a Healthier Vermont, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that this year his organization is in the sweet spot because Gov. Peter Shumlin has opened the door for a broader legislative discussion about new taxes to support health care reform.
The $34 million in revenue could be used to soften the employer funded payroll tax proposal the governor introduced last week, Iarrapino says, or for other initiatives that would bring down health care costs associated with obesity.
Two years ago, a similar proposal was drafted in legislation, but didn’t make it out of committee. This time, there are already two bills in the works — one that would create the excise tax on sugary beverages (Reps. Allison Clarkson and George Till are the lead sponsors) and another from Rep. Paul Poirier that would use the $34 million in new revenues to subsidize premiums for middle income Vermonters.
Iarrapino says not only are lawmakers more open to the idea, but so are members of the general public.
“We are building on a strong foundation of public awareness,” Iarrapino said. “Every day I open the paper or listen to the news and hear a new study about how sugary drinks are contributing to bad health outcomes and preventable diseases.”
The Alliance for a Healthier Vermont’s membership is now a who’s who of 30 medical and low income advocacy groups, including five local hospitals, the Vermont State Dental Society, the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Vermont Medical Society and the Vermont Low Income Advocacy Council.
Members of the group took turns at the press conference to outline scientific findings that link sugary drink consumption to obesity (especially among children), heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
The Alliance says the tax would reduce consumption of sugary drinks and lower obesity rates.
Sugary drinks include soda, sports drinks, sweetened waters and teas, energy drinks and fruit drinks. According to the Journal of American Dietetics Association, sugar-laden beverages are the primary source of additional sugar in American diets. A 20 ounce Coke has 16.75 teaspoons of sugar and a 20 ounce Mountain Dew has 19.25 teaspoons of sugar. The recommended daily intake of sugar is no more than 6 teaspoons a day for women, 9 teaspoons for men and 3-4 teaspoons for children.
One-fifth of weight gained by people in the United States from 1977 to 2007 is attributable to sugar sweetened beverages, according to a 2010 study from the academic journal, Public Health Nutrition.
More than 60 percent of Vermont adults and 29 percent of children are overweight or obese, according to statistics from the Vermont Department of Health.
Vermont taxpayers and businesses pick up the tab for obese patients. Iarrapino says adult-obesity related medical costs in Vermont are $202 million; nearly half of that amount is for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Vermont currently has excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol only. No state in the country has passed an excise tax on sugary drinks; Mexico, however, instituted a tax last year and has seen a 10 percent reduction in consumption rates, according to the Alliance.
The Vermont Grocers and Retailers Association and the American Beverage Association adamantly oppose the 2-cent per ounce excise tax, and several state senators, including Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell issued statements critical of the proposal.
“I believe very strongly in advancing policy that will help Vermonters lead healthier lives however, the proposal to tax beverages containing added sugar is not the way to address our shared goal,” Campbell said. “Taxation is not the way to encourage healthy behavior. This proposal will not only increase the cost of living for working families, it will also harm the businesses that produce these beverages and those who bottle, distribute and sell them.”
Jim Harrison, executive director of the association, says the excise tax is a hidden tax that would push up the cost of groceries in Vermont and make the state less affordable.
“Beverages going down the aisle have different prices today because of the different costs of ingredients for items, and consumers make choices based on that and based on what they want,” Harrison said. “To add another mix into that with an excise tax on some of those items but not all just adds to the confusion a customer would face.
“We can all agree or disagree on what food is best for you, but that’s for us as consumers to make those decisions not for somebody in Montpelier to say we think we’d like to discourage this and put a tax on it,” Harrison said. “That’s just coming from the top down we need to educate people people need to look at the calorie labels and decide what’s best for them.”
Andrew MacLean, of the lobbying firm MMR, said ultimately the tax would fail to discourage consumption of sugary drinks because beverage distributors would apply the tax across the board on all products. “It would not result in the price differential that they’re talking about at all,” MacLean said.
The sales of sugary sweetened beverages is down nationally, MacLean said. Soda sales are down by 12 percent. Meanwhile, the average calorie per serving has dropped 23 percent and calories from sugar in beverages has declined 39 percent, MacLean says.
