Sugar Tax

Dear Mr. President,

My name is JN. I am a student at Parkway West High and I am writing you today to share my thoughts about adding tax on sugar.

My Medical Science class watched a video that addressed the issue of sugar consumption. It stated that, "Americans consumed 13.8 billion gallons of sugar-sweetened beverage or approximately 45 gallons of soda, fruit punch, sweetened tea, sports drinks, and all other beverages with added caloric sweeteners per person." Because of this, sugar consumption had tripled in the past fifty years. Then the class talked about their opinion on whether the tax for sugar should be added. Most of the students agreed, seeing how it'll help reduce sugar consumptions and improve health issues.

Not only will it help improve health issues, it'll promote a healthy lifestyle. Consumption of sugar will be decreased. People will feel healthier to exercise and be active. A healthy diet will lower the risk of diseases, which means less medical payments. A study found that lowering the consumption of sugary drinks can lower the number of diabetes by 2.6 percent, 95,000 coronary heart events, 8,000 strokes and 26,000 premature deaths. Because of this, the country could avoid the medical cost of 17 billion dollars. A healthy lifestyle will allow one to be active, ward off disease and many other benefits.

People may be against the idea of a sugar tax or diminishing one food type, since people should build a realistic approach to their diet by varied, balanced meals and exercise. But U.S. Health experts claim that "sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco." It was aid sugar meets all criteria for societal interventions as alcohol and tobacco does. As it can be seen, tax on sugar is needed to promote a healthy lifestyle so vote for a sugar tax.

Thank for your time.

Sincerely,

JN

Parkway West

Ballwin, MO