A. Barton Hinkle on the War Against Sugar

Self-appointed food police have been pitching Twinkie taxes, soda taxes, and so on for years, writes A. Barton Hinkle. And like advocates of every stripe, they are sometimes prone to exaggerating. Last month researchers (including one at Virginia Tech) claimed slapping a penny-per-ounce tax on soft drinks would raise $13 billion in revenue, save $17 billion in health costs, and prevent (kid you not) 2,600 premature deaths a year—all because it would lead the average adult American to cut nine calories a day. Nine.