Mexico Proposes Tax on Sodas

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This year, Mexico took America’s crown as the most obese nation this side of the world, with a 32.8% obesity rate.  The problems caused by obesity are causing a public health crisis in Mexico, with children growing fatter and adults increasingly dying from heart disease and diabetes.  Currently, 15% of the population above the age of 20 suffers from adult-onset diabetes.

Mexico’s current president, Enrique Nieto Pena, who we wrote about in the 10 Fittest Heads of State article, has proposed a possible solution for the obesity epidemic his nation currently faces – a bill that suggests applying a tax of one peso (eight cents) for each liter of sugar-sweetened beverage. Concentrates, powders, syrups, essences and flavor extracts would be taxed based on the amount of sugar-flavored beverage they would yield. The government said the tax of one peso per liter would bring in a little more than $900 million a year in revenue.  By mid-November, Mexico’s Congress is expected to approve the soft-drink tax.

Mexico is currently the second largest consumer of sodas-per-capita in the world, and sugary fruit-flavored waters and juices are also extremely popular in Mexico.  We wrote about the dangerous effects of soda on your health in an article here.

Readers: Do you feel this tax is a good proactive prevention of obesity?  What else do you feel governments should do in aiding its people in being healthy?

 

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