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A Harvard Economist Explains Soda Tax Proposals

By Eric Lipman

As we told you several weeks ago, proposals to tax soda and other sugar-filled beverages are all the rage. While the idea for a stand-alone soda tax was tabled in Washington, D.C., the district did extend the sales tax, from which non-alcoholic beverages were previously exempt, to the drinks. A tax on soda, of course, constitutes a sin tax (though if enjoying the occasional Dr. Pepper is your biggest vice, I think you're in good shape). In The New York Times, Harvard professor N. Gregory Mankiw broke down the concept of sin taxes, using the soda tax as an example. The column reads like something an economics professor would have written. Well, an economics professor who dabbles in philosophy: There is, however, an altogether different argument for these taxes: that when someone consumes such goods, he does impose a negative externality ? on the future version of himself. In other words, the person today enjoys the consumption, but the person tomorrow and every day after pays the price of increased risk of illness. This raises an intriguing question: To what extent should we view the future versions of ourselves as different people from ourselves today? Deep, man. Deep. If future...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on June 06, 2010 (boomark / email).