Coalition Urges Congress to Address “Outdated, Wasteful” Sugar Program

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 9, 2013—As Members of Congress prepare to mark up provisions for the 2013 Farm bill, a coalition of consumer, taxpayer, and policy organizations have come together in a coalition letter urging Members of Congress to put the U.S. sugar program on the “short list” for substantive reform.

“The program is an outdated relic of the 1930s that has outlived its purported usefulness,” argues the letter, which was signed by Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks, and several others.

“Essentially the U.S. sugar program operates as a cross-subsidy, with consumers and taxpayers paying the bills for domestic sugar that historically has been two to three times the world price,” the letter continues. “Americans are hit with higher prices for a vast array of foodstuffs, while at the same time shouldering the cost of a massive regulatory bureaucracy. In these tough economic times, with high unemployment levels, consumers, taxpayers, and food manufacturers deserve a break from the hidden taxes of the U.S. sugar program.”

>> Read the full coalition letter here.