Facing a mounting deficit that could reach $500 million to $700 million over the next five years, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is getting creative. Among budget cuts and various fundraising strategies, including charging a fee for trash collection, Nutter has proposed a tax on sweetened beverages such as soda, energy drinks and bottled teas.

It's an especially appealing tax target for Philadelphia, a city where half of the children are considered obese. According to the American Journal of Clinical Medicine, sweetened beverages account for 8 to 9 percent of the average American's caloric intake, and some hope that putting a tax on soft drinks could help curb the nation's rampant obesity problem.

In September, a group of doctors and researchers published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine outlining their argument for taxing sweetened beverages. They argued that not only could taxing soda improve public health by reducing the nation's liquid calorie consumption, it would raise money for health care and lower costs associated with conditions such as diabetes.

The tax would charge 2 cents per ounce of soda -- amounting to $2.88 per 12-pack of 12-ounce cans -- including fountain drinks but not diet drinks.

Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, which represents the makers of the ubiquitous beverage sweetener high-fructose corn syrup, believes the tax will be unproductive and ultimately damaging.