Years ago I made a food tasting discovery that surprised me involving extreme sugary drinks.
If I purchased a soft drink that had reduced sugar (NOT Zero sugar BS, but reduced sugar) in it with a slice of Pizza that had too much salt in it, I couldn't taste the soft drink's less sugar flavor, not because it had less sugar, but because the Pizza Slice had too much salt in it.
And there in lies the reason why a Sugary Tax drink is a good idea. Surgary drinks force other vendors to amp up the ingredient that they use to make their product "tastier" to the tongue. Most of the time this would be salt or seasonings.
Too much salt requires another product consumed at the same time have too much sugar, and too much sugar can require another product being consumed at the same time have too much seasoning, and so on.
No one wants to take the first step if they are competing with other products that cheat.
In an unsalted nutshell, too much sugar in a drink is CHEATING as it requires other vendors to add excessive seasoning to "blend in". It's really that simple.
I did a grape juice test once. Grape Juice has a LOT of sugar per 8 ounces, one of the highest of any fruit juice and it may even be higher than most soft drinks and beer. I tried diluting Grape Juice and discovered 33% to 40% grape juice mixed with 67% to 60% water tasted fine. I APPRECIATE getting a more sweetly condensed Grape Juice Bottle because it is like getting an extra bottle and a half for free when it is mixed with water at the percentages mentioned above.
However, when products are sold with the higher sugar percentages and then consumed that way, it most likely leads to combining unhealthy levels of other foods and the seasoning's they use, therefore should be taxed.
If Grape Juice manufacturers had a clue, they would market their product the way toilet paper companies market their products in which they claim one roll is like 3 regular rolls.
One container of Grape Juice is like getting another 1 and half bottles for free, and it is better for the environment than transporting liquids that don't require dilution.