Ira Stoll, the editor of FutureofCapitalism.com writes in an op-ed in the New York Daily News - “From the standpoint of pure self-interest, I should support Gov. Paterson’s proposed penny-an-ounce tax on sugary sodas and other sweetened drinks, which is now being backed by Mayor Bloomberg. I’m one of the few Americans who doesn’t drink any of the stuff, so any taxes paid by soda drinkers are dollars that government doesn’t have to extract from my pocket.

But the more I think about the tax, the angrier I get. I’ve been trying to figure out why, and have come up with five reasons:

It’s a government program set up to undo the effects of another government program. The federal government has spent billions of dollars to subsidize the growing of sugar beets, sugarcane and corn that become high-fructose corn syrup. Americans who aren’t farmers are already taxed once to support these programs. Now New York wants to tax us a second time to prevent us from eating the sweeteners that our taxes are paying farmers to produce. Wouldn’t it be simpler just to get rid of the farm subsidies?”

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