Last week, Politics Editor Marc Ambinder wrote a column in The Atlantic breaking down the soda tax rhetoric that's gone from inside the Beltway to the desks of some state and city lawmakers across the country. In his column, Ambinder highlights a few reasons why taxes on soda are the wrong approach.

Ambinder notes that getting to the root of the obesity problem requires "complex interactions between an individual's biology, his or her interaction with society, and the larger environment itself." As we've said time and again, taxes don't make people healthier - and they won't solve the obesity problem. This is supported by science and data.

He also argues that a soda tax would do little from a societal perspective that already discriminates against those with weight issues as well as increase economic pressures during what is already an economic downturn.
Ambinder's argument is a pragmatic explanation of a simplistic and ineffective approach to a complex public health issue.