Soda Tax Proves to Be Major Failure For Kids

What do you think would solve the obesity epidemic in children?

In today’s day and age, all sorts of measures are proposed and implemented in the name of helping children. Whether it’s forcing politically charged ideologies into classrooms or insisting that funding private schools is “discriminatory,” the elites are never short on rules to impose upon the masses.

Yet, time and time again, these rules do more harm than good. Even the teachers union members who claim to care about public school attendance are sending their own children to private classrooms. This means the elites clearly know that what they’re promoting to the public is a scam.

Unfortunately, using children as a scapegoat for horrendous policies and changes goes far beyond the education sector. Roughly five years ago, a tax on soda beverages was implemented in the name of helping kids and promoting early childhood education.

To say this tax failed to live up to the hype would be a massive understatement.

Soda Tax Crashes and Burns

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, local officials decided that children would benefit from the extra funds garnered by a tax on sodas. Community leaders insisted this would bring about necessary changes. From that point, it didn’t take long for the Philadelphia City Council to get on board with the idea.

The end result, however, was quite different. Instead of proving to be a major investment in children’s education, the aforementioned soda tax brought about massive harm for businesses in the community. Philadelphia customers who would have ordinarily purchased sodas eventually declined to do so once the city’s tax went into effect.

That’s not all, though. Adding insult to injury, children’s education has worsened not just in Philadelphia, but across the United States. Right now, growing numbers of kids are going through the education system without learning basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Today, the jobs that people could have worked without these skills are quickly being automated out.

By all accounts, the soda tax was a colossal failure. Then again, it was doomed from the start.

Philadelphia Locals Sounded the Alarm

Reporters and news pundits aren’t the only ones who’ve recognized the failure of Philadelphia’s soda tax. Everyday members of the community spoke out against it, stating it was “tearing [them] up,” rather than helping young children.

Collectively, Philadelphia locals opted out of spending money on sodas, instead choosing wine and spirits as alternatives. For local pizza parlors and other small businesses that relied upon beverage sales, this meant less money coming in every month. In the case of certain entrepreneurs, losing even hundreds of dollars each month could mean the end of their operations.

When small businesses close, this results in job loss that hurts the greater community. Unfortunately, these negative ripple effects were barely an afterthought for proponents of this ill-fated tax.

Government Intervention Does More Harm Than Good

Nine times out of ten, when the government steps in to rectify a supposed problem, it only makes the situation ten times worse. We’ve seen this as bureaucrats’ approaches to education only worsened the mental health of young people and resulted in less learning.

Philadelphia’s soda tax was so unpopular that politicians across the political spectrum rallied against it. Regardless of one’s partisan leanings, it didn’t take a genius to see that taxing soda would immensely backfire.

What’s more is this: Philadelphia residents already pay dozens of taxes. From state income taxes to sales, capital gains, and other taxes, these people are being bled dry. Adding one more tax to the equation with soda didn’t just hurt businesses and education; it also harmed everyday folks who barely manage to make it through each month.

Meanwhile, all the benefits that were supposed to go toward early childhood education never once materialized. Though even years after the doomed Philadelphia soda tax, many governments are still pushing for similar policies that will only destroy our kids and communities.

Let This Be a Lesson Learned

If America’s leaders are serious about improving education, there are some clear, strategic steps they can employ. Doing away with DEI and other similar ideologies is a step in the right direction. The same principle also applies to eliminating roadblocks to school choice and improving the quality of public schools.

However, these aren’t quick or easy solutions by any means. They take time, consistency, and long term effort to implement. Sadly, too many elites in power want to look like they’re taking action as the cameras are rolling, as opposed to truly doing their jobs behind the scenes.

It is for this reason that the Philadelphia soda tax epically backfired. It’s why other bureaucratic initiatives will meet the same fate.

Across the United States, for years on end, parents have been speaking out about education reform. They’ve been making their voices heard despite getting scoffed at by educators and accused of domestic terrorism by the Justice Department.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the education of our children, we can’t trust members of academia to do the right thing. Over and over again, they’ve proven themselves to be compromised. The Philadelphia soda tax may be years old, but the ideologies that put it into motion are very much alive and well.