Tax soda to level the field

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Santa Fe, NM, is voting on a proposed

$.02/ounce on sugared soft drinks, the money thus collected be used to fund about one thousand additional pre-school students. The campaigning for and against is hot and heavy.

I have been contacted an amazing number of times, mainly by those who support the tax. Up to five times in one day. Despite Santa Fe's reputation for being place only rich people can live in, the reality is that most who live here, and especially those with young children, are not at all rich. The preschool for all is needed.

Those who oppose the tax see it as terribly regressive, will hurt the poor terribly, will cost jobs. Both Pepsi and Coca Cola have bottling plants here, although I have no idea how many they employ. Probably no more than a few dozen each, based simply on the fact that I drive by them often enough, and neither one has a huge parking lot. The other thing that has people terribly upset is the thought that people might start finding sugared soft drinks too expensive to buy, and will be forced to purchase other beverages. Or drink water, as if water meant some sort of poison.

Me? I don't drink sugared soft drinks more than two or three times a year, and so such a tax simply won't impact me.

And yeah, I'm going to vote for it. Not because I want to stick it to those who drink sugared soft drinks, but because I'm willing to support the pre-school education. Go ahead and tax something that I actually purchase, like fresh vegetables, and I'll still vote for that tax.