Taxing or Regulating Products with Negative Externalities or "Spillovers" (costs to 3rd parties)

As the bookdiscusses toward the end of chapter 4, microeconomics suggests that resource use may be improved if producers or consumers of products associated with negative externalities (harmful effects on third parties) are made to pay for the external costs they produce.Firms can be taxed for emissions, sales or excise taxes can be applied to products when purchased, or firms may have to pay for the "right to pollute" in a "cap and trade" plan, for example.

Recently some have advocated a tax on soft drinks or other sugared-drinks, on grounds that their consumption contributes to weight problems and diseases such as diabetes.(Mexico and many other countries and some cities have in fact enacted targeted taxes on sugary drinks in the past few years...)Do you think that's a good idea?Present for and against it and describe your own position on the question.