After being flatly dismissed at the federal level, the contentious soda tax proposal has cropped up in rhetoric in a number of states across the country. New Yorkers sent a strong message to Governor David Paterson last year after he proposed the idea. They told him they didn't want another tax on their groceries. And according to a poll released by Siena College yesterday, New Yorkers haven't given up their opinion that discriminatory taxes on items in the grocery cart are unfair, untimely and unwanted.

"Voters are opposed to the Governor’s proposed tax on soda and other sugared beverages by a margin of 59 percent to 38 percent. While Democrats and New York City voters are closely divided on this issue, it is overwhelmingly opposed by Republican, independents, downstate suburbanites and upstaters," Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said in a press release about the poll.

The soda tax is part of the Governor's budget proposal. Health concerns are supposedly the driving force for the taxes. However, the motives are painfully transparent: closing the budget gap. This disingenuous attempt to raise revenue is not lost on voters in New York who understand that the proposed tax is little more than a money grab.

For more information about the tax and what you can do to take action, check in with the New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes.