Soda Taxes Head for Stratosphere. . . .WTF?

According to Van Helsing at moonbattery.com:

Philadelphia's mayor, the aptly named Michael Nutter, is taking the soda tax concept to new extremes:

Mayor Nutter wants to treat the city's weight and wallet problems in his 2010-11 budget with the same remedy: the nation's highest tax on all sweetened beverages including soda, energy drinks, ice tea, even chocolate milk. …

The tax rate would be 2 cents per ounce, 40 cents on a 20-ounce bottle of soda. The levy would cover fountain-drink syrups and powders, based on the number of liquid ounces they produce. …

Nutter gave the tax a name, Healthy Philadelphia Initiative, but it's clear the city's first priority is to raise money.

One thing is sure — like all Democrat maneuvers, it isn't intended to increase employment.

[Tony] Crisci [representing the Pennsylvania Beverage Association], in a phone interview, estimated the number of sweet-drinks jobs in the city at 2,000, including 1,000 in the Coke and Pepsi bottling plants in North Philadelphia and Northeast Philadelphia.

"Clearly, if there's a reduction in sales there's going to be a reduction in production and a reduction in jobs," he said.

But of course the bureaucrats righteously proclaim that the tax is only intended to save us from ourselves.

Remember when taxes on cigarettes were only a few pennies? Now you could buy a whole untaxed carton for the taxes on a single pack. Given the stratospheric costs entailed in ObamaCare, if it's rammed through you can expect taxes on anything our nanny state rulers deem unhealthy to skyrocket. Maybe Indian reservations will take up making soda; if not, we won't be able to afford it for long.