Writing for the Wall Street Journal, economics professor Michael Marlow, author of The Myth of Fair and Efficient Government: Why the Government You Want Is Not the One You Get,” assesses what occurs when government steps in to save people from themselve. Here’s one example.
The authors of the study in Health Affairs conclude that existing sales taxes may be “too low to cause changes in calorie consumption” affecting the average body mass index, or BMI. In other words, the special levy would have to be adjusted upward until the intended effect is achieved. A 2010 study in Contemporary Economic Policy estimated that a punishing 58% tax on soda might change behavior sufficiently to lower the average BMI by only 0.16 points. But a drop of 0.16 is minuscule, given that the standard threshold for obesity is a BMI of 30. (And remember, the majority of people buying these products aren’t obese.)
This is ignored, of course, by nanny-staters like NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It makes you wonder what their goal really is.
