robot-heart-politics:

crazynutjob:

Interesting. You support the soda tax because you think the government should enact policies to change people’s eating habits. What makes this case different?

I obviously agree that the salt ban is ridiculous. However, I think the soda tax is even more ridiculous, particularly because the government subsidizes the production of high fructose corn syrup that makes soda cheap in the first place. A soda tax is also extremely regressive, disproportionately hitting lower income people.

I wrote that post over a year ago and have since backpedaled for the same reason you mentioned: it is absurd to tax something the government is already subsidizing to make cheap. And in fact, you can find far more posts, far more recently, where I have said as much. For instance, this post from yesterday. :)

Apart from that, salt is a basic component in the vast majority of dishes and is absolutely necessary in some to achieve certain results. Soda is a take-it-or-leave-it element of one’s diet. Salt is almost unavoidable in any cooked dish, savory or sweet. Salt is, in fact, the most basic level of seasoning applied to almost every single dish in any restaurant in New York. Notably, too little salt in one’s diet can also have negative health effects. This law is so facepalm-inducing because 1) it reveals that someone apparently has never cooked anything, ever, and 2) it reveals gross ignorance on the subject of good health and diet, the very thing this law is supposed to be promoting.

I find it interesting that RHP’s lack of support for this law is based solely (at least in this post) on the fact that it’s impractical.

I agree it’s impractical, but my main problem is that the state has no business telling me what I can and cannot eat, nor what a restaurant can serve (beyond obviously poisonous or unsanitary foods).

Government: get your hands out of my stomach! It’s my body, right?