soda tax

With both obesity and fiscal austerity on the rise, makers of unhealthy foods are a tempting target for taxation. While companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald's are most obviously in the sights of the food police, the rest of the food industry may be vulnerable as well.

Sweetened soft drinks are the single largest contributor of calories to the American diet and consumers will benefit from health warnings on soda bottles and cans, according to an advocacy group that is petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require new labeling messages. The...

Beverage company stocks may remain a sweet investment even if recently proposed soda levies are enacted. Companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been diversifying into healthier product lines, which should help reduce the impact of soda taxes on their bottom lines.

Soda is the latest target of sin taxes, and New York City is at the forefront, but a recent study says soda consumers there are more than twice as likely to be low-income and almost three times as likely to be minorities. A regressive soda tax falls more heavily on the heads of New York's poor.

A careful observer of the history of taxation might remind Coca-Cola Co. (KO) chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent that taxes have been used for centuries to create incentives for desired behavior. At a Rotary Club meeting in Atlanta on Monday, Kent employed the alarmist rhetoric reminiscent of Whole Foods...

Your soda habit may be getting more expensive. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that "The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based watchdog group that pressures food companies to make healthier products, plans to propose a federal excise tax on soda,...

Another day, another bossnapping: Another boss in France, this time at an auto parts factory, was held hostage by workers. Caught on tape: A Florida woman, who set up a live video surveillance after her home was burglarized, watched live from work, over the internet, as her home was...