For me it's sort of conflicted, too. I'm not crazy about taxes vs. behaviour. But taxing cigarettes, since there's a cost to society in general to people's smoking sort of makes sense, a similar argument could be made for sugar. Of course a similar argument could be made for fat. Should a rule not be applied because it's possible that it could be misapplied, or should there just be vigilance against the misapplication?

I lean towards thinking that the value of this sort of thing is more towards shifting public attitudes, keeping people thinking about this sort of thing. I don't think most people are just pennies away from not being able to afford a twinkie or a bottle of pop.