There have been several letters to the editor recently commending the CNMI Legislature for passing such a law and touting the various supposedly \u201cgood\u201d effects such a tax will render to the community.\u00a0 Of course, none of the \u201cbad\u201d effects are mentioned\u2014at all.<\/p>\n
Well, there are some \u201cbad\u201d effects, most of them economic and aimed squarely at the business community and your pocketbook.\u00a0 Besides, shouldn\u2019t one\u2019s \u201chealth\u201d be a matter of one\u2019s personal and private body? Oh, you may argue that one\u2019s \u201chealth\u201d does affect other people and the community as a whole. Especially cited are the effects of healthcare as it impacts the cost of such care for all\u2014and, yes, that is an important benefit for any community; that is to have a \u201chealthier\u201d population.<\/p>\n
But is the role of government such that it shall deem itself to be the protector of one\u2019s body through controlling what we eat and drink by means of making those items so costly as to preclude their availability to the average person?\u00a0 Or is the real reason simply more sinister: to find a way to increase the coffers of a cash strapped government gone awry by sneaking in a \u201ctax\u201d under the guise of being \u201cgood for you?\u201d\u00a0 Well, the intention of this letter is not to argue the validity of such a law or even the health aspects of it, but rather to give you a little insight into the nitty-gritty of what this law will do to the business community and more importantly, to your budget.<\/p>\n
The business community can mostly speak for itself (and it no doubt will), but we all know such a law will impose huge headaches and nightmarish avalanches of paperwork; and that\u2019s just to figure out what products are \u201ctaxable\u201d and how much tax is due\u2014not to mention the reporting and remitting of it. And then there\u2019s the government\u2019s own \u201cinspection\u201d of the books and tracking. Will the CNMI be able to field \u201cinspectors\u201d capable of figuring out this nightmare, let alone enforcing (accurately) its provisions? I seriously doubt it!<\/p>\n
Well, let\u2019s get to some of that nitty-gritty: There are thousands of \u201csugar sweetened\u201d drinks on the shelves, including all the well-known \u201csoda-pops\u201d and the multitude of them sold under various store brand names. So, I won\u2019t bother to include those in my list, but here a few of the more popular \u201cdrinks\u201d you will soon be paying a lot more for\u2014ranging from $0.48 cents to $5.12 per container more:<\/p>\n
Mike\u2019s Hard Lemonade; Vanilla Soy Milk (and all soy and nut milks); Nesquik Chocolate milk; Capri Sun Drinks; Apple Juice; Orange Juice (most brands); Minute Maid Lemonade; Snapple; Arizona Lemon and Tea Drinks; Vitamin Water(s); RED BULL; Rockstar, Monster and ALL \u201cenergy boost\u201d drinks; McDonald\u2019s McCafe; Gatorade and all \u201csports\u201d drinks; Sunkist Drinks; Hi-C; Hawaiian Punch; Sunny D; Ale 8 1; Iced Coffees; Boost, Glucerna and Ensure; Caf\u00e9 Mocha and Cappuccino; Chocolate Milk; Hot Cocoa; Lipton and Nestea drinks; Slurpee; Tonic Water, and V-8 Fusion.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s only a very few of the commonly found grocery store carried drinks. But, you think that\u2019s bad? Wait till you see the difference this tax will make on the second category it purports to control: syrups and powders. The law states that the $0.04 cent per ounce tax shall apply \u201cto the largest volume of beverage produced from the use of a syrup or powder when used according to the manufacturer\u2019s directions.\u201d And here are only two of the most common:<\/p>\n
1. A Syrup: Hershey\u2019s Chocolate drink mix. A 48-ounce bottle of this mix costs about $4.00 at Sam\u2019s Club here\u2014it will undoubtedly cost more in the CNMI.\u00a0 That bottle will make 35 – 8 ounce glasses of chocolate drink\u2014that\u2019s 280 ounces of beverage. At $0.04 cents per ounce, that translates to a tax of $11.20\u2014per bottle!<\/p>\n
2. A powder: Tang Juice drink mix. A 72-ounce canister costs about $7 at Sam\u2019s Club here\u2014and, once again, it will undoubtedly cost more in the CNMI. That canister makes about 22 quarts of drink\u2014that\u2019s 704 ounces. At $0.04 per ounce, that translates to a tax of $28.16\u2014per canister!<\/p>\n
Now, does ANYONE still believe the CNMI Legislature actually has your best interest at heart? Do you believe they actually researched these issues? Did they hold public hearings and, if so, did any of the people who may have spoken there know what they were talking about?<\/p>\n
So, under this law, as poorly written as it is (and overly simple), are you now prepared to either pay through the nose, not only for the target drinks (\u201csoda-pop\u201d) but for just about everything else on the shelf\u2014even the ones that supposedly DO have some \u201chealth\u201d benefits\u2014or simply do without much to drink except water? Of course, the consumption of only water actually is beneficial, but do we all always drink only what\u2019s \u201cbeneficial\u201d to us? What about those of us who are healthy but living on a fixed (and tight) budget?<\/p>\n
This \u201claw\u201d needs to be carefully discussed and considered before it is actually signed by a governor who probably has little or no idea of what the consequences will be to all of the community.<\/p>\n
Dr. Thomas D. Arkle Jr.<\/strong> There have been several letters to the editor recently commending the CNMI Legislature for passing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20,56,26,55],"class_list":["post-226266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-to-the-editor","tag-budget","tag-business-3","tag-cnmi","tag-health-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFormerly of Tinian<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"