Caseworker Alice Pitney is beside herself with delight in her latest post because Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times is supporting what he calls the “Miracle Tax Diet.” As you probably know, Governor Paterson of New York is proposing a tax on soda, among a great many other taxes, to raise revenue for the state. The soda tax seems to be getting the most attention because it is being justified as a way to pay for rising health care costs allegedly caused in part by, you guessed it, soda. It is also being supported by Kristof and others as a way to reduce soda consumption (oops — there goes the extra tax revenue) and reduce obesity.

I addressed this issue of whether the “costs imposed on society” by unhealthy behavior could justify government interference with that behavior, in an interview conducted by Edward Pettit shortly after he reviewed my novel Mean Martin Manning in the Philadelphia City Paper.

I, of course, love non-diet soda — Coca-Cola — and am not remotely obese. Attribute that to luck of metabolism, a generally or at least reasonably healthy and low-fat diet, getting off of my ass once in a while, whatever. But when I visit New York, and when other states get around to imposing the same taxes, I’ll be required to shell out more money if I want to buy soda.

Whether or not you think “public health” can justify this sort of thing when it applies to something that you really dislike, like cigarettes, at least we all need to stop pretending that this ever had a chance of stopping with cigarettes. Those who asked, “What will be next?” when cigarettes were taxed, and tobacco companies were sued, were dismissed as paranoid or as shills for Big Business. “They’re just making slippery slope arguments. It stops with cigarettes — no one is coming for your donuts.” Well, fast food taxes have been proposed in various places, and now soda may be taxed, and maybe all sorts of other high-fat food like Twinkies. It is clear that the slope is slippery indeed — the grass is wet and the hose is on. Pitney represents an extreme result of the slippery slope, near the bottom of the hill, but the bottom seems a bit closer this week than it did before.

As for what I think of the government using taxes and other methods to manipulate and control the behavior of adults for “their own good,” I can only recommend that you read my novel, an outrageous satire that, among other things, exaggerates the government’s attempt to control what it deems unhealthy behavior, which seems less exaggerated each day. Also, Jacob Sullum’s For Your Own Good has an excellent section that addresses what he calls the “tyranny of public health.”

Update: Governor Paterson explains his obesity tax here and why he has targeted soda. It turns out it’s for the children. No one saw that coming. I’ll drop all objections now, seeing how it’s for the children and all. And how there’s an epidemic. Can’t argue with an epidemic.

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