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*** UPDATE 2 *** I hate to beat this thing to death, but since Sen. Cultra issued his statement I took a look at the video and he certainly doesn’t look like he was speaking tongue in cheek to me. Watch it for yourself…
Sen. Cultra also said more than was quoted below…
“In poorer families, they actually get money for their kids. I’d take that money away.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Statement from Sen. Cultra…
“I certainly regret my choice of words in the recent debate on Senate Bill 396. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment taken out of context - and should not be taken seriously. I am sensitive to the need to reduce childhood obesity. But I don’t believe a new tax on everyone who buys juice, soda and energy drinks will accomplish the goal. Parents have to take some responsibility.”
* Ummm…
An Illinois lawmaker says parents who have obese children should lose their state tax deduction.
“It’s the parents’ responsibility that have obese kids,” said state Sen. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga. “Take the tax deduction away for parents that have obese kids.”
Cultra has not introduced legislation to deny parents the $2,000 standard tax deduction
Of course he didn’t introduce a bill. No legislator is that crazy.
* Speaking of obesity, the sponsor of the Senate bill to tax sugary soft drinks by a penny an ounce says the legislation is going anywhere…
State Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago, is sponsoring the measure. He said that after the recent income tax increase, the idea of more taxes has fallen flat among his colleagues. Delgado, a self-professed reformed soda drinker, said he hopes the interest groups involved in the debate could come up with another way to at least slow the amount of sugary drinks Illinoisans consume.
But some support remains…
“The low cost of sugary beverages has made it possible for consumers to purchase these beverages at three to eight times the size of when sugary beverages first came on the market,” Elissa Bassler, director of Illinois Public Health Institute, said. “Eight- to 12-ounce cans used to be the norm, now 20 ounces are the norm, and it’s possible to find portions as large as half a gallon.”
Adding a quarter to the cost of that 24-ounce Pepsi would have a twofold effect, Bassler said. People would think twice before buying the drink, and at least half of the tax revenue would go to a special fund to fight obesity in the state.
Bassler said the tax increase would cause the average adult in the state to lose about three pounds, and the average child to lose about four pounds.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:21 am
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I’m not familiar with Cultra’s district, but are there not any fat people there?
Comment by Old Milwaukee Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:24 am
Is this REALLY an effort to improve the health of our citizens or is it a way to take what appears to be a common sense topic on face value as a vehicle to tax something? Me thinks the latter.
Comment by Ghost of John Brown Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:24 am
Shane, you need to go back to being “silent”.
Comment by Way Way Down Here Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:29 am
Senator, has it occured to you that obese kids have enough problems without you dumping this one on them. You really think that there wouldn’t be anyone who would tell the kid that it is their fault that the parents couldn’t take that deduction? Besides, are you planning to send the Fat Police out to the schools to weigh every kid? No stigma there for the bullies to latch onto, right?
Obesity is a real problem, but tossing solutions like this at it is irresponsible. Please think through the real life consequences when proposing legislation.
Comment by Aldyth Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:32 am
Technically, I don’t think any soft drinks produced in the United States use sugar anymore, but sugar substitutes and high fructose corn syrup.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:37 am
Wow. Wow.
I’m nearly speechless. If you’ve ever watched the house or senate chamber from the gallery, you get an idea of how many salty/sugary snacks are consumed by members during the typical day they are in session.
And when Aaron Schock left Springpatch, so did the last in shape lawmaker I think.
A new level of hypocrisy and nanny stateism.
Comment by just sayin' Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:45 am
For the record, it wasn’t my parents’ fault that I was a fat little turd.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:48 am
As a progressive Democrat, I laugh at this proposed legislation: don’t Republicans want to keep government out of our lives? Ridiculous!! Concentrate on the budget folks…
Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:52 am
- Of course he didn’t introduce a bill. -
Do Senate Republicans even remember how?
Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:53 am
I can see it now, back alley sugar cane dealers… come on man, this is pure New Guinea….
The problem is these type of sin taxes tend to overly burden those who are already poor.
Tax breaks for the rich, sin taxes for the poor. We need a tax policy that is more uniform.
How about instead of raising taxes we just remove all the tax breaks from the tax code, we could probably reduce the tax rate if we actually collected a true 1% of everyones wages.
Comment by Ghost Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:07 am
- wordslinger - Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 8:37 am:
“Technically, I don’t think any soft drinks produced in the United States use sugar anymore, but sugar substitutes and high fructose corn syrup.”
True. While I drink soda very infrequently, try the Coke produced in Mexico (with sugar) sometime. Yum.
I would say that the good senator is a RINO, at best. Loop Lady is absolutely correct to call out this pointy haired clown.
I do like one other factor though. Tax the soda, then eliminate the tax break on the kids. Essentially, that’s a tax on a tax, right?
Ghost rightly points out how these sin taxes fall disproportionately on the poor. As do smoking, casino and any other usage tax. Keep that in mind when supporting some of those other taxes, which are at least better than across the board taxes since only those participating in the activity get taxed.
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:20 am
- I would say that the good senator is a RINO, at best. Loop Lady is absolutely correct to call out this pointy haired clown. -
Yes, obviously all those years of getting high ratings from the chamber of commerce and gun rights groups, and low ratings from planned parenthood and unions mean nothing compared to his plan to raise taxes on obese kids’ parents. But glad to see you’re still stuck on the pointy head theme, I’d hate for you not to beat yet another phrase to death.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:27 am
My apologies to the Senator. He is indeed conservative, but we do not necessarily agree on the rights of the individual, two very different things.
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:33 am
===I would say that the good senator is a RINO, at best.===
LOL
Cultra has been one of the most conservative legislators for the past decade. He was the most reliable “No” vote on everything when he was in the House.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:34 am
“Bassler said the tax increase would cause the average adult in the state to lose about three pounds, and the average child to lose about four pounds.”
What a wild claim. What assumptions were made here? It is just as likely that when you tax the soft drinks people will just pay it and keep on consuming as much sugar as ever. People buy the drinks at convenience stores all the time, at twice the cost of buying it at a grocery store, without a thought. Families who can’t ignore the cost may just switch to adding sugar to powdered drinks, ice tea, and lemonade like people did when I was a kid and sodas were smaller. It is quite a stretch to assume sugar consumption will change dramatically enough for everyone to drop a dress size. I doubt Jenny Craig needs to worry about losing business.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:44 am
Perhaps we should start by taking health insurance away from overweight state legislators? Since obesity is such a big problem, our lawmakers should be the first to set an example.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 9:51 am
I wonder if Sen. Shane Cultra has any ideas on the budget problem, or is that too much for his mind to grasp. I believe it was Mr. Lincoln who once said It is better to be quiet and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Well Sen. Shane Cultra, has removed all doubt.
Anyone who has ever dealt with an overweight child knows that this is not a simple you gotta quit eating thing. There are so many more things that are involved than that. These kids have it hard enough just getting through life and dealing with all the crap that society and their peers throw at them. They don’t need this imbecilic idiot shooting his mouth off about something he apparently knows nothing about.
I understand I might get a lash or two for my strong stements but it is unexcuseable for a person in Sen. Cultra’s position to be making statements like this.
Comment by Irish Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 10:23 am
Wow, how about we just stop transferring wealth to people who want to have bad diets? Its there choice….
Comment by Liberty_First Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 10:27 am
How about putting that standard deduction on a sliding scale: if your child is obese, you only get $1000, but if they are emaciated, you get $3000.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 10:40 am
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 10:40 am:
“How about putting that standard deduction on a sliding scale: if your child is obese, you only get $1000, but if they are emaciated, you get $3000.”
Thank God I finished my swallow of coffee before reading this.
Irish,
You might be surprised at the definition of obese:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/defining.html
I certainly hope that if we institute these changes, the government will fund BMI testing for individuals and that there is an appeals process…
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 10:53 am
But it got him a mention on Gawker: http://gawker.com/5800661/should-we-start-taxing-the-parents-of-obese-kids
Comment by soccermom Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:17 am
Just like people don’t think twice when cigarette taxes go up, they won’t think twice when their soda is taxed higher.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:17 am
Cultra is an original who is willing to buck his own party when he feels it’s wrong.
Comment by reformer Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:18 am
Cincinnatus - I don’t know nor do I really care if the Senator was going by any set definition of obesity, though I doubt he had the forethought or incliniation to go by set guidelines.
All I know is to an overweight kid it doesn’t matter. And to the many ignorant people who think that weight is always a choice, a fat kid is a fat kid, and that is all they care about. When you have kids committing suicide because of their weight or going into deep depression because of the teasing or being left out, it is not a trivial matter.
For the Senator to make this a monetary thing and to even think of putting more stress into a situation where parents are doing everything they can and walking a tight rope between alienating their own child by becoming one of the people who are ostracizing their child because of their weight and being an enabler by maybe not doing enough. And then to have this idiot put a dollar figure on that is an outrage. Maybe he should concentrate on the real issues like the budget and the past due bills.
Comment by Irish Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:19 am
Irish,
I know that obesity is not a choice. My point is that if he is indeed serious about his proposal, the Senator will need some sort of definition of obesity. That definition will not include some fraction of people who are indeed in shape by other methods of measurement and will need an appeals process or be unfairly penalized. Furthermore, how does one prove ones obesity, or lack thereof? Government funded testing? Affidavits from your personal physician that you have to pay for yourself?
The whole proposal is rift with errors, logical inconsistencies, bureaucratic tendencies, nanny-statism, and the possibility for fraud. i apologized earlier for believing the Senator was a RINO, an accusation I made because I couldn’t believe a thinking conservative would make such a half-assed proposal.
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:33 am
Cincy - My ire was not meant for you. I just get tired of these intellectually challenged individuals who think they have to be our savior because we are not smart enough to deal with issues in our lives without their guidance.
Commonsense can not be legislated. You cannot make a law to rectify all of societies ills. So they need to get over themselves and do the job they were sent there to do.
I find it ironic that these mental giants have the time and energy to come up with all these bills or ideas to help us, by making us wear our seatbelts, make sure we are feeding our kids right, etc. etc. Yet they can’t come up with a way to pay all the people who are working at fulfilling all the past laws they have passed. We are going to penalize a person who doesn’t wear a back seat seatbelt, or a parent who has an overweight kid. But what about paying the folks who trying to help battered women, or trying to get drug addicts through a treatment program? Sorry don’t have time for that I gotta solve society’s problems. WHAT?
Comment by Irish Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:57 am
I’m polishing my resume now to be the new Director of Weighing Fat Kids for the Illinois Department of Revenue.
With an estimated 650,000 obese kids in Illinois (1 in 5), would could increase tax revenues by $98 million.
For those of you doing the math at home…that IS $15 per kid.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 11:58 am
==I would say that the good senator is a RINO, at best.==
==Cultra is an original who is willing to buck his own party when he feels it’s wrong.==
You people are hilarious! Cultra is a back bencher to whom no one pays attention. This session, he was the primary sponsor of six (6) Senate bills this session; all of which are still in rules. He filled a similar role in the House.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:02 pm
@YDD - you could pay yourself a $980,000 salary - you could then claim to give Illinois taxpayers a 100:1 return on their investment.
Comment by Robert Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:03 pm
YDD,
Make me Deputy Director - DuPage County and I’ll support this bill to the max.
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:15 pm
Oh, yeah, YDD. If you got the $980k Robert suggests, you would be making only half what you could in the private industry (see thread on the school district CFO in today’s CapFax).
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:18 pm
Silent Shane repeals fatrso trax plan
May 11 • Cultra has issued a statement on his tax deduction comment:
“I certainly regret my choice of words in the recent debate on Senate Bill 396. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment taken out of context - and should not be taken seriously. I am sensitive to the need to reduce childhood obesity. But I don’t believe a new tax one everyone who buys juice, soda and energy drinks will accomplish the goal. Parents have to take some responsibility.”
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:28 pm
@Cincy -
With the average kid viewing 8,000 murders on t.v. before they finish elementary school, you’re needed too badly at DCFS’s new Division of Television, Video Game and Internet Abuse.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:30 pm
By the same punitive logic, obese legislators should lose their compensation package. That would make for a nice cut in GA expenditures.
Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:42 pm
Re Cultra’s statement: sounds like whoever wrote the original story may need their sarcasm detector fixed.
Comment by Secret Square Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:45 pm
BTW, the Senator has issued a clarification saying it was a joke. I’m not making this up…
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:47 pm
I don’t think anyone has ever paid this much attention to anything Cultra has said. LOL
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:49 pm
YDD,
i was thinking of applying to the Department of Redundancy Department.
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 12:52 pm
Dear Secret Square
the writer of the story works for the st louis post dispatch so sarcasm is their middle name
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 1:21 pm
The food we get from fast food joints and even our supermarkets is killing us. Because of a “cardiac event” I now read the labels. A quarterpounder with cheese has 12 grams saturated fat. My daily intake is supposed to be 16. It has 1190 mg of sodium. My daily intake is 1600. People are getting more obese and sicker. The right complains about Michelle Obama’s nutrition efforts saying families should take care of their kid’s nutrition. Its seems pretty clear that families aren’t taking care of it and I have to pay for it with higher insurance premiums. Of course most people don’t realize how bad the food really is. If the food industry won’t clean up it’s act then government has to step in. (god, I used to love those quarterpounders with large fries and a shake).
Comment by Marcus Agrippa Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 1:45 pm
Fatty - how did you get fat in the first place. Why did you choose to be fat? I assume that you knew it wasn’t good for you?
I guess I must have chose to clog up my cardiac arteries. But I had no idea that a quarterpounder had so much bad crap in in.
Luckily I can afford the 300 a month in prescriptions to reduce the risk. I can afford 75 a month to join the Y. I can afford to pay the personal trainer. Something tells me that a lot of the obese folks who are poor and buy the cheap (and nutritionally bad) food don’t have the resources to to what I do.
Comment by Marcus Agrippa Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:01 pm
We tax the hell out of cigarettes because they are unhealthy - why not the same with unhealthy food?
Comment by Marcus Agrippa Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:03 pm
“I lost 60 lbs over 2 years through healthy eating and exercising.”
Good for you! However, please note that it took you 2 years — it didn’t happen overnight. That means you lost about 1/2 a pound per week, or 2 pounds per month. How long did it take before anyone noticed a difference in your appearance? How many times BEFORE that did you try to lose weight and fail? And how many years were you a “fatty” before you succeeded in losing weight?
My point is that a person could still be fat and be subject to all the opprobrium that attaches to being obese for a LONG time even WHILE they are working hard to correct the problem.
If someone stops smoking, you notice immediately that they are not smoking. If someone stops drinking or taking drugs, they become clean and sober right away. You can’t reverse obesity nearly as quickly.
Comment by Secret Square Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:05 pm
Why don’t we just return to Crown Rule? I mean, if we can’t trust people to eat right, it’s obvious that the American Experiment has failed.
Hello, Pippa!
Comment by John Bambenek Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:06 pm
I believe Secret Square is correct - upon listening to the clip, it appears Cultra was being sarcastic. Somewhere along the way we/the public/the constituents need to be able to make decisions for ourselves as to what is good and what is bad for ourselves. Education and easily accessible information about what is contained in the food we eat/items we consume is the answer, NOT banning it or taxing it. That allows us to have an informed choice. However, those who really want to eat/smoke/inject/huff/etc. whatever is bad for them are going to do it regardless. And I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of my government acting like my babysitter.
Comment by Both Sides Now Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:22 pm
== upon listening to the clip, it appears Cultra was being sarcastic ==
Really? In listening and watching that clip he doesn’t appear to be sarcastic at all. In reading the quote I thought it could be sarcastic but seeing/hearing the video he appears completely serious.
Comment by AnonX Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:41 pm
==In poorer families, they actually get money for their kids. I’d take that money away.==
Sorry, but I don’t think he was kidding. He may have said many similar things in the past, but, since no one was paying attention, no blowback. And, since he’s in a concentrated Republican district (close to +70% R), he will get little flak in his district and will almost certainly continue to serve.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:52 pm
Apparently Rush “WingNutGod” Limbaugh missed the sarcasm too. He beat the snot out of SilentShayne
for a big part of his show today. Perhaps one of the WingNut subscribers could copy the audio and sneak it on the website.
Meanwhile there are unconfirmed reports that the Senate has turned to House GOP staff to get the SilentShayne media plan from his rep days and plan to fully implement in Upper Chamber.
Not a moment too soon.
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:53 pm
I will normally not use Wiki as a source, but the table here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
Speaks volumes. For those that want to return to the idyllic past, before man ruined the Earth and the climate was pure, be my guest. We didn’t reach the top of the food chain by eating sod and twigs. Eventually, someone or something will replace us at the top of the food chain, and they/it will have earned it. I, for one, will take my freedom to do with my body as I please.
Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:56 pm
–“I certainly regret my choice of words in the recent debate on Senate Bill 396. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment taken out of context - and should not be taken seriously.–
I’m not sure that’s better. If he’s joking around, isn’t he just humiliating overweight kids for his “comic” material? In a Senate hearing?
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 2:58 pm
Just watched SIlentShayne FatsoTax Video….no joking there…he even did that “push the mike away” move all the WIngNuts do when they emphasizing their points
Hope the Capers Crew has gone into quick rewrite mode to make the most of this one.
In the old days, SilentShayne would get the Pickle Award from ILCA!
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 3:02 pm
Nice Gotchya, Rich.
I didn’t see him smile once, and arguing that we should do away with the Earned Income Tax Credit for parents of obese kids sounds to me like he was giving it some pretty serious thought.
Which, is pretty ironical, since the link to poverty, food deserts, and obesity is pretty well established.
I’m certain that Sen. Cultra’s opposition to tax on corn-syrup based beverages had nothing to do with the influence of Archer Daniels Midland, the world’s largets supplier of sweetener and the largest private employer in Central Illinois. Nor the inflence of corn growers in his district.
Yep. Positive on those two points.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 3:09 pm
Make Vision Quest the official movie of the state of Illinois, slap a vinyl sweat suit on those fatties and let ‘em try to make weight so mom and dad can keep the tax deduction. It’d be like one giant high school wrestling weigh in with real money at stake.
Sen. Cultra is just a typical nanny state tea partier.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 3:10 pm
More Fatso Tax Fallout….story is linked on Drudge Front Page…could a a.m. segment on GMA, Today, Pm’ers at Greta, O’Reilly be next.
With the video it would be a great segment
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:02 pm
This is up on Drudge and has been most of the day, he seems to have picked it up pretty quickly. Cultra might not have blowback in his district, but that kind of publicity doesn’t go unnoticed.
Comment by Colossus Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:22 pm
I think the idea behind the soda tax is to change market forces. We subsidize corn, which leads to corn syrup, which leads to soda being seriously cheap, which has led to kids (and, ahem, most adults) thinking a non-diet soda is a pretty normal substitute for water. a few pennies might not change everyone’s behaviors, but we are just trying corrective measures to a mess created by federal policy.
a better solution might be to reform the Farm Bill, but in the meantime, Illinois REALLY needs a funding stream to address obesity issues.
Comment by Listening In Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:33 pm
King Corn’s a rigged game. I know a lot of farmers who would like to diversify, but it just doesn’t make economic sense. Plant (or not plant) corn, and the federales will make sure you cover your nut, at least.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:37 pm
the reason that poorer children are more obese is because the cheaper the food, the more fat content and calories. So, buy food at Aldi’s and the other lower caliber stores, and you get more empty calories and fat. Less nutrition. It is really sad. I hate to say it, but the sugar soda’s is the least of the problem.
Comment by Paul S. Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:39 pm
Sugar soda is just one very basic way to raise a large amount of money to help bring better stores, farmers markets, co-ops, phys ed programs, safe outdoor space, and all that BMI testing infrastructure to Illinois to deal with the issue that eventually is going to hit us all in the pocketbook.
Dialysis, often a result of overweight-induced diabetes-turn-renal failure, costs $6000 EACH TIME (3 days a week). and that’s all tax-payer dollars. you TEA-party fiscal conservatives oughta be pretty concerned about this.
Comment by Listening In Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:47 pm
Ironic how he thinks parents should keep their kids fit when Sen. Cultra and his caucus is doing nothing to improve the state’s fiscal waistline.
Maybe they could just have news conferences to berate the parents and talk about how they’d raise the kids better.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 4:51 pm
A Victim of his times ?
Believe Cultra grew up as the “rich kid” in Onarga. The migrants’ kids kept thin cause they worked in the nursery fields 16 hours a day.
Goofball first class.
Comment by x ace Wednesday, May 11, 11 @ 5:12 pm
Use a bunch of tax money to fight obesity? Seriously?
Does anyone NOT know that eating too much (and of the wrong things), combined with not exercising enough, is the main cause of obesity?
So then, how does the government FORCE people to eat less (and to eat better) and to exercise more?
Comment by titan Thursday, May 12, 11 @ 10:27 am