San Francisco Moves To Ban Sugared Beverages From Sale On City Property

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome has moved to ban sales of soda and other sugared beverages from city property (HT: Arley Ward). How long before the City rethinks this asinine policy when it loses the revenue it gets from soda sales from vending machines on its property?

The San Francisco policy, the result of an executive order from Mayor Gavin Newsom, dictates vending machines on city property can no longer dispense Coke, Pepsi and other calorically sweetened beverages. Sports drinks and artificially sweetened water also are included in the ban.

Juices must be 100 percent fruits or vegetables with no added sweeteners.

Like others pushing bans or so-called "fat taxes," Newsom's goal is a thinner, healthier citizenry.

But is government the solution? Despite a soda-tax bill still pending in the Michigan Legislature, momentum seems weak, at best.

This is nanny statism in action.

And the motives are always pure - to improve the health of the citizenry, even though sodas by themselves aren't the problem. It's that people simply choose to eat more and don't engage in portion control and opt to super size their portions. That's a personal choice they've made.

The nanny state response is to tax items that they deem as being bad, and when the revenues fall short (and harm the programs funded by these revenues), they demand tax hikes to keep those programs going.

Obesity is a big problem in some parts of the country, but taxing soda isn't going to stop it. Getting people out of their damned couches and exercising will. Portion control will help. Taxing food items isn't (and most parts of the country exempt food from sales and use tax). After all, you get more calories from a steak than you do soda.