Small taxes on soft drinks and snack foods to promote health

Health officials often wish to sponsor nutrition and other health promotion programs but are hampered by lack of funding. One source of funding is sug gested by the fact that 18 states and 1 major city levy special taxes on so ft drinks, candy, chewing gum, or snack foods. The tax rates may be too sma ll to affect sales, but in some jurisdictions, the revenues generated are s ubstantial. Nationally, about $1 billion is raised annually from these taxe s. The authors propose that state and local governments levy taxes on foods of low nutritional value and use the revenues to fund health promotion pro grams.