Federal government resurrecting Prohibition under the guise of ‘fat taxes’
As more cities and states seek to expand their control over what citizens eat and drink through ‘soda taxes,’ the federal government issued a study last week suggesting people who drink alcohol be subjected to the same controls.
The government study, conducted over four years through interviews with more than 11,000 American adults, claims that while soda and other sugary drinks are responsible for six percent of the average adult’s calorie consumption, alcoholic beverages account for a nearly identical five percent.
‘We’ve been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new,’’ said Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a study author, tells the Associated Press.
The “Center for Science in the Public Interest,” a special interest group dedicated to expanding governemnt controls on food consumption and other private behavior, is already using the findings to agitate for new government controls on alcohol labeling.
Anti-calorie activists like the CSPI are already using the study to push for federal regulations mandating calorie labeling on alcohol, along with punitive taxes on those who drink an alcoholic beverage.
“Health officials should think about enacting policies to limit alcoholic intake…said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest,” the AP reports.
‘‘In New York City, it was smart to start with sugary drinks. Let’s see how it goes and then think about next steps,’’ Wooten crowed.
The federal government outlawed alcohol entirely in 1919 through a constitutional amendment, but repealed it in 1933 after prohibition led to a violent and bloody black market.
But as with most government prohibition efforts, bureaucrats are finding it easier to control behavior through punitive taxation than criminalization.
In 2009 the Obama administration proposed a federal tax on calorie-loaded beverages as part of an effort to socially engineer the nation’s health. It was dropped after heated citizen opposition.
