The call by “health advocates” for a new federal “sin tax” on sugary drinks is yet another example of special interests trying to use shoddy social-engineering tax policy to grow the size of government (“Soda Tax Weighed to Pay for Health Care,” U.S. News, May 12). The expansion of such taxes to every product health officials deem “harmful” is a continuation down the slippery slope. Where will it end?
It is simply wrong to use tax policy to discriminate against users of certain legal products, distorting a market already rich with both sugar-filled and sugar-free drink options.
John Nothdurft
The Heartland Institute
Chicago
This letter to the editor was originally published in The Wall Street Journal.
John Nothdurft joined the staff of The Heartland Institute in May 2008 and left in January of 2019.
