Does Illinois need soda taxes and soda permits?

The “Sweetened Beverage Tax” bill – proposed legislation before the Illinois Senate – would impose a tax of one cent per ounce on all “bottled sugar-sweetened beverages” – has already started to receive a lot of attention. According to the bill’s authors, the tax would result in “a 23.5 percent reduction in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption” and “a...

The “Sweetened Beverage Tax” bill – proposed legislation before the Illinois Senate – would impose a tax of one cent per ounce on all “bottled sugar-sweetened beverages” – has already started to receive a lot of attention.

According to the bill’s authors, the tax would result in “a 23.5 percent reduction in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption” and “a $150.8 million reduction in obesity-related healthcare costs.”

Of course those numbers are wildly speculative. Even the soda companies can’t know for certain how a change in price will affect how much consumers buy, so there is no reason to think that politicians or bureaucrats could accurately predict that either. Nor is there any way to know how much decreased soda consumption would affect health care costs, since many other choices affect people’s health as well.

But here is what we can know for sure.

According to the Illinois Manufacturers Association, the tax would add $2.88 to the cost of a case of soft drinks, needlessly raising prices for consumers in an already struggling economy.

The bill would also add to the already-heavy regulatory burden Illinois businesses face by requiring distributors to get a permit just to sell soda and sugar-sweetened “beverages, syrups, and powder” to retailers.

Besides that, many Illinoisans are simply sick of nanny state measures attempting to paternalistically micromanage personal decisions that should be left to individuals.

Like cigarette taxes, the proposed soda tax puts government in the strange position of claiming it wants to reduce unhealthy behaviors while counting on people to continue the same behaviors to add to the state’s revenue. How about instead of trying to manipulate our behavior through taxes and regulations our legislators get their spending under control, meaningfully address the state’s pension problem and work on restoring Illinois’ economy to stop the state from continuing to lose citizens and businesses to states that better respect their personal and economic freedom?