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Utah Considers Caffeine Tax

Legislators consider tithing both soda and coffee

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 13, 2009 12:17 PM CDT

(Newser) – After seeing multiple proposals to raise the tax on cigarettes fail, one Utah legislator has set his sights on another addictive substance: caffeine. Rep. Craig Frank has initiated a yearlong study on the impact of such a tax, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. If it can fly anywhere, Utah might be the place. The Mormon church already frowns on "hot drinks."

Frank had initially intended to cover only caffeinated sodas but has since come to consider all forms of the substance. He sees it as a logical extension of the effort to tax smokers. "We're going after people who have problems with addiction for a revenue stream, only caffeine would be one that is more broad-based," he said.

Viennese coffee is prepared at the Austrian-style Cafe Sabarsky in New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2009.
Viennese coffee is prepared at the Austrian-style Cafe Sabarsky in New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2009.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton drinks Turkish coffee during the taping of a talk show for the Turkish news channel NTV in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, March 7, 2009.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton drinks Turkish coffee during the taping of a talk show for the Turkish news channel NTV in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, March 7, 2009.   (AP Photo/Osman Orsal, Pool)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
Guest
Mar 14, 2009 2:40 AM CDT
Yeah, tax something "addictive" -- that isn't bad for you. Brilliant. I think we should just skip to the chase, and tax anything that people have to have. You have to have coffee, tax it. You have to have water, too, so we may as well tax that too. Idiots.
Guest
Mar 13, 2009 10:22 PM CDT
Coffee has been shown to have one of the highgest anti-oxidat levels of anything. It is actually good for you. But, nevertheless, trying to overtax all of the things that legislatures disapprove of is about the scariest thing I ever heard of.
riffran
Mar 13, 2009 8:25 PM CDT
Geez...New york is proposing the "soda" tax I think, now Utah with the caffeine tax, whats next, oxygen tax, wind and rain tax, the return of the window tax?.......*sigh*

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