ALBANY - Gov. Paterson deemed sugary sodas a “dangerous substance” on Monday - but confessed even he’s a closet slurper.

“I might even sneak a soda now, but the First Lady has banned them from the mansion,” Paterson said as officials launched a new drive to enact a penny-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which would come on top of the existing sales tax.

“We’re trying to take dangerous substances out of the hands of children, and we would have equated that, years ago, with firecrackers or something like that,” Paterson said.

He spoke at a gathering of health officials and other soda-tax advocates, including city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley and state Health Commissioner Richard Daines.

They argued that the new levy would reduce childhood obesity and diabetes by forcing a cutback in the consumption of sugary beverages.

State officials estimate the tax, which was included in Paterson’s 2010-11 budget proposal, would increase the cost of sugar-sweetened beverages by an average of 17% and reduce consumption by 15%.

It also would generate about $1billion annually for the state.

“The sugar-sweetened beverage tax is absolutely the right policy to enact at the right time,” Farley said at the Capitol gathering.

Farley compared the soda tax to recent increases in cigarette taxes, which he said had reduced smoking rates.

The message fell on the deaf ears of a bipartisan group of state senators who blasted the measure as a money grab that would devastate the state’s soda bottlers - and hurt consumers.

They insisted the proposal was dead on arrival in the Senate.

“I think it has to be,” said Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx). “Anything that is going to cause us to lose jobs in this devastating economy has to be considered a nonstarter.”

Other lawmakers questioned whether the tax would do anything to discourage people from swilling sweet drinks.

“Ladies and gentlemen, today it’s soda and juice, tomorrow it’s lettuce and tomato,” quipped Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn). “Do you know how much sugar is in a grape or a banana? They are not going to stop there.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said his members are still considering the proposal.

“The question is whether people will be taxed for things that are clearly legal … [a] product sold in supermarkets,” Silver said. “If we deal with sugar, we might as well deal with the whole gamut of sugar.”

Paterson urged lawmakers not to dismiss the tax without giving it a “fair hearing.”

“It is probably the best public policy on health care that we will be setting in this decade,” Paterson said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/03/09/2010-03-09_guv_gulps_pushes_for_soda_levy_senators_say_move_is_sure_to_fall_flat.html#ixzz0hhkmhPYL