Coca Cola is saying no to the food nazis in France, for now

I am a proud consumer of Coca Cola and have been since I was eight or nine years old. In the past it was not unusual for me to drink three or four 44 ounce big gulps from 7-11 in one day. That was back in the 1990's.

I have long since cut way back on my Coca Cola consumption. I now have a couple of cokes a week, at the very most. I Never had a problem with gaining weight from 'sugary drinks' that are being wrongfully attacked and blamed for this. I suppose some folks do. If one was to drink mass quantities of soft drinks then I guess this could be a problem.

I see this as a cheap way to control and tax the food industry and at the same time have the government control the food that its citizens eat and drink. At the same time a move like this one just really pleases those dolts of the libtarded clan who would like to see food that is 'bad for us' taxed out of existence. Of course in their place will be plenty of Kool-Aid to drink and pass around. I bet they would not dare plant a tax on dear leader's drink for the masses now, would they?

Oh how those silly Europeans are showing us the way to government ruination, one more time.

From France 24.

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Coke suspends French investment plans in protest at ‘sugary sodas’ tax

Coca-Cola is suspending plans for a €17 million investment in its factory in the south of France it announced Thursday. The move is in protest at France’s plans to slap a tax on sugary sodas. The government says the tax will raise €120 million.

By News Wires (text)

AP - Coca-Cola said Thursday it has suspended plans for a €17 million ($24 million) investment in France to protest a tax on sugary sodas that’s part of government efforts aimed at shrinking the country’s huge debts.

The investment in the factory in Pennes-Mirabeau in southern France is on hold pending parliament’s debate on the tax, said Tristan Faradet, head of Coca-Cola Enterprise, which produces and markets the company’s drinks in France.

Faradet added that Coca-Cola is ready to participate in budget austerity efforts, but considers the tax unfair because it targets drinks that are “not harmful to health.”

The government says the tax will raise €120 million. Its part of a bill aimed at reducing the deficit of the public health care system, itself a component of a series of spending cuts and tax increases being discussed in parliament this month.

France, like many rich countries, has seen a rise in obesity in recent years, especially among children.

“It is necessary to put the brakes on the development of obesity, which weakens the health of the people concerned and represents, over the long term, a large cost for the health care system, » the government’s proposal reads.

It proposes « to raise the price of sugary drinks, whose unchecked consumption favours weight gain.”

Coca-Cola is lobbying legislators and Health Ministry officials to drop the tax.

Leading French amusement park owners successfully persuaded legislators to drop a proposed government tax hike on their parks as part of the new budget cutbacks.

Coca-Cola insisted that suspending the factory investment would not affect any of its 3,000 jobs in France. The company says it has invested €260 million in France in the past five years.

On its website, Coca-Cola’s France operations say obesity is linked to several factors including limited physical activity.

“It is not linked to the consumption of a particular product, but depends on the global nutritional balance,” it says.

Original article is here.