"If Paterson and Bloomberg wanted to discourage obesity by imposing taxes, they could raise the tax on televisions, or on cable television service. All kinds of studies have shown links between sedentary behavior like television watching and obesity." -- me, in a Daily News op-ed about New York's proposed soda tax, March 10, 2010.
"Why aren't we going after computer and cable-TV companies for creating a sedentary lifestyle?" -- PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, in the March 25, 2010 Economist.
For what it's worth, the advocates of the soda tax say that the increase in overweightness and obesity over the past 30 years is about 80% attributable to increased caloric intake and 20% attributable to decreased activity, so they say they are going after the heart of the problem.
