Law Commons^™

Regulating Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Tyler Rauh

University of Miami Business Law Review

American waistlines are an international punchline, and United States taxpayers spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year to combat medical complications resulting from obesity. The personal costs are financial, emotional, and mortal. Projections insist that it will become worse. Section I details the obesity epidemic and ponders why the United States is uniquely unhealthy.

The reason could be that America consumes more sugar than any other country. In recent years, some municipal policymakers have attempted to restrain America’s sweet tooth by taxing sugar-sweetened beverages. Initial responses are polarizing. Chicago’s tax did not last three months before its abolishment. Philadelphia’s …