I saw a report on the news where someone was acting like poor people will be paying more because of this. Do stores in poor neighborhoods not carry bottled water for cheaper costs than soda? Everywhere that soda is sold water is sold as well. I will concede to not living in these kinds of neighborhoods myself, but I've visited cheap deli/bodegas before and I'm pretty sure they all sold water.
Not to mention the people that have free running water in their house.
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To be fair tap water's basically been undrinkably disgusting for well over a decade now.
Juice is more expensive than soda, too, so it basically makes water their only decent alternative.
There are places here where you can get a 3 liter bottle of soda for a dollar (And its decent quality), which is actually comparable to the price of water. The major brands have already increased their prices by 50-75 cents over the last two years alone.
*All* bottled water has been taxed in New York for several years, though. So really, it means a lot of the cheapest, most easily accessible stuff is going to be taxed in New York if there's a Soda Tax too.
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Any time anything is taxed or price-raised it always "affects" the poor the most because of the percentage increase it is against their income. The media then writes that story except about <insert product or service here>.
It's stupid and I'm tired of that story being run on ridculous stuff. Pop costing more will not cripple the poor. Gas prices....maybe, but stop with frivolous sugar drinks destroying the lower-class.
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From: foolm0ron | #004 Any tax always disproportionally hurts the poor
Because it reflects more of their total income, yes.
Which is why they always argue they're getting screwed.
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I can almost always find deals at gas stations that make soda cheaper than water. Now, if you go to a supermarket like Walmart, then you can guaranteedly find flats of bottled water for very cheap prices. But if you're just buying a drink while you're out, soda will almost always be cheaper in some way.
Is tap water really that bad? In none of the places I've lived (coastal Delaware, New York City, South Florida for a month), have I ever had any second thoughts about drinking the tap water. Have I just gotten lucky or are people being irrationally scared?
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Not this one since they can just buy water instead. Soda's not required for nutritional purposes or anything.
Several States already tax bottled water, including New York.
Its not to the level the new Soda tax would be, though.
I think the bigger problem is how disgusting and unfit the water supply is for drinking and how long it has been that way. There's not a single person I personally know whom I know drinks tap water.
Then again I find some bottled types (Most notably Poland spring) to be just as bad as the tap water. I've found the best water I've tried to be Aquafina and Dasani, the problem is their price is naturally high most of the time.
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Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers. ~War13104 Never stoop to the level of idiots. They will drag you down and beat you with experience.
Is tap water really that bad? In none of the places I've lived (coastal Delaware, New York City, South Florida for a month), have I ever had any second thoughts about drinking the tap water. Have I just gotten lucky or are people being irrationally scared?
It depends where you live I'd think.
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Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers. ~War13104 Never stoop to the level of idiots. They will drag you down and beat you with experience.
Dear God, the poor may have to have some foresight and bring a bottle of water with them, or wait until they get to their home and have a drink! It's all over!
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Dear God, the poor may have to have some foresight and bring a bottle of water with them, or wait until they get to their home and have a drink! It's all over!
yeah, i liked tap water until i had filtered water. so much yummier, spoiled me.
and in the neighborhood i'm in soda is maybe a dollar and comes free when you get a sandwich or something. water is like $1.50. i'm not a soda guy and it kinda sucks.
anyway of course flat taxes on basic goods always hurt the poor
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Well, Florida water is nasty anyway because of the sulfur, so yeah. Whenever my family traveled to Florida, we always brought a big pack of bottled water.
Is tap water really that bad? In none of the places I've lived (coastal Delaware, New York City, South Florida for a month), have I ever had any second thoughts about drinking the tap water. Have I just gotten lucky or are people being irrationally scared?
Depends. There's definitely an subtle yet unpleasant taste to the tap water in my Western Washington town, assumedly due to pollution issues with the lake that is our water source. It's not bad enough to be an actual threat to the health of the vast majority of people, though I do believe it's advised for expecting mothers to drink bottled/filtered water at least.
It can be a very serious issue in other areas, however. More industrial areas can have huge issues. If you're unlucky enough to be anywhere near a hydraulic fracturing facility, it's highly inadvisable to consume any tap water. Depending on the severity of the inevitable leakage of chemicals, people drinking water near a fracking facility are at risk for health problems as severe as cancer. Drinking that s*** can kill cows, man.
Btw, I say all of this as someone who's (basically) unemployed and receiving maximum food stamp benefits. I don't honestly think this particular issue is any kind of "poor" issue. It shouldn't be taxed anyway, but it's not some nourishing bottle of human health. It's pop (soda), it shouldn't be your main source of fluids.
I agree that all tapwater should be of higher quality than it is in most places (I live in Portland, OR, so I'm kinda spoiled for public water and I'm fully aware, so I won't tell people tapwater is the end all solution). If you're going to tax every source of liquid nourishment, then your water should be flowing perfectly drinkable and downright tasteless.
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Vancouver has some pretty kick-ass tap water... my friends have even commented on it when they've come to visit. I didn't notice how good it was until I went back to Alberta and tried the water after living here for a couple years. Even through a Brita filter it still tastes like garbage.
I love water enough that even when I'm out of the house I'll pay for a bottle of water before I'd ever think of buying pop or juice, so I would probably welcome a soda tax (even though it's not my country we're talking about). The stuff is terrible.
From: ViviffTheMobile | #030 Oh man, I just remembered when I went to APEX in New Jersey and tried to drink some tap water in the hotel room. Dear god...the anguish in my mouth.
If you live in Jersey, buy all the pop you want, do whatever it takes not to drink that crap in your faucets. I use Brita and it tastes fine most of the time. I also don't live in one of the cities.
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can't you people just buy a water filter or something
this
the only time I bought bottled water was when I lived on campus at UCF..good lord the water was awful (never drank it, but had to use it to brush teeth)..since then I just have used a water filter.
but just because water is an alternative does not change the fact that poor people are most affected because they are still going to keep buying soda. people in this country are addicted to fast food and soda and don't have the willpower to eat better.
any tax on things that are terrible for you affect the poor the most because that's why half of them are poor, chronic inability to make good decisions. pay attention when you're in line at any store, 70% of the people on food stamps are immediately following that transaction with a cash transaction for alcohol, cigarettes, or scratch tickets. it makes no sense to tax things that are bad for you because that tax money is going right back to the same people buying those things so that they can continue doing it
All the deluded people in the US need to watch this video.
Okay so I got to the part where they taste test NYC Tap vs Bottled Water and I really want to stop watching. That is one of if not the worst place in the United States to have this test. The amount of s*** New York puts its water through to make sure it's of the highest quality is insane. The billions and billions poured down the drain to insure they acquire freshwater reservoirs, treat it and build/maintain pipelines. Hell every single ounce of water that comes out of a faucet in New York City passes through a pipe where it's blasted with UV light to make sure that what little bacteria that gets through is turned into a germy vegetable. So when they have a friggin taste test for water in NY you can't help but think that Penn & Teller are the ones being deceptive douchebags on the matter. Gonna keep watching but respect for the video and the people making it when way down.
70% of the people on food stamps are immediately following that transaction with a cash transaction for alcohol, cigarettes, or scratch tickets
I'm going to need a source for that. I know there are plenty of people that abuse the system, but I have a hard time believing that 70% of people that are on food stamps abuse the system and chronically buy alcohol, cigarettes, and scratch tickets.
And I have no problem with the soda tax. I feel like if soda is your primary source of liquid, you most likely have other serious problems. While I can definitely see how it would affect the impoverished far more than the wealthy, I don't classify soda as something someone needs to live. Any argument made for stopping a soda tax would seem to me to be better applied to removing any existing tax on bottled water, especially in areas where tap water is undrinkable.
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From: LOLContests | #008 Is tap water really that bad? In none of the places I've lived (coastal Delaware, New York City, South Florida for a month), have I ever had any second thoughts about drinking the tap water. Have I just gotten lucky or are people being irrationally scared?
Tap water is pretty bad. Everybody should buy filters, especially given how cheap they've become. I mean come on, I've lived in two different places (one in CA one in OH) where there was actually city-wide warnings of the tap water being un-drinkable for a couple months due to substantial fecal matter contamination. The warnings came about three weeks after it all started, by the way.
anecdotal, you seriously thought there was a study done on this? anyone who's lived in the inner city or in a poor rural area has already seen it, the problem is that culturally we actually encourage people to have these negative patterns, people that come out of a bad environment like that are frequently extremely proud of their deficiencies
From: thundersheep | #029 Vancouver has some pretty kick-ass tap water... my friends have even commented on it when they've come to visit. I didn't notice how good it was until I went back to Alberta and tried the water after living here for a couple years. Even through a Brita filter it still tastes like garbage.
I love water enough that even when I'm out of the house I'll pay for a bottle of water before I'd ever think of buying pop or juice, so I would probably welcome a soda tax (even though it's not my country we're talking about). The stuff is terrible.
Well a city in BC has the best tap water in the world.
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From: LOLContests | #008 Is tap water really that bad? In none of the places I've lived (coastal Delaware, New York City, South Florida for a month), have I ever had any second thoughts about drinking the tap water. Have I just gotten lucky or are people being irrationally scared?
Tap water is pretty bad. Everybody should buy filters, especially given how cheap they've become. I mean come on, I've lived in two different places (one in CA one in OH) where there was actually city-wide warnings of the tap water being un-drinkable for a couple months due to substantial fecal matter contamination. The warnings came about three weeks after it all started, by the way.
I think we know the source of the feces now! the gig is up
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