Sugared Beverages, Obesity and Taxes

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has issued a new report titled: "Taxing sugared beverages would help trim state budget deficits, comsumers' bulging waistlines, and health care costs" (PDF)

The report contains a spreadsheet with numbers for the different states. Here are the numbers for North Carolina:

Budget Deficit (2010) & Potential Revenue from nickel-a-drink* Tax

FY 2010 Budget Gap          Annual New Revenue          
4,600,000,000                    220,000,000

New Revenue Share of Budget Gap - 4.78%                       

North Carolina's state obesity rate is 29 percent.

* A drink is defined as a 12 oz. serving