MONTPELIER, VT - Vermont Health commissioner Dr. Harry Chen, speaking on Vermont Public Radio, said Governor Peter Shumlin will oppose a proposal to tax soda and other sugar sweetened beverages during the 2012 Legislative session.

Chen said both he and the governor would support a federal tax on those products but that it would be counterproductive for Vermont to impose a statewide tax.

Proponents of the proposal want to add a one-cent per ounce tax on sugar sweetened beverages, which would add roughly 60 cents to a two-liter bottle of soda.

"Both of us would be very supportive of a federal tax," Chen said. "I think we understand very easily that the fact that Vermont is not an island and whatever we decide to do in Vermont really has to play an impact in terms of tax policy in terms of businesses and the fact that we have such a large border with both New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts."

Chen also said that while sugar sweetened beverages contribute to obesity, it is unfair to single them out.

"[I]f we're going to change the culture I have to say that I think it's going to be more than just a simple tax on one particular item," Chen said.

Peter Sterling, spokesperson for a Vermont coalition of health and consumer groups that supports the tax, said he is disappointed by the administration€™s position.

"We feel that if the administration was really concerned with decreasing health care costs and increasing people's health we would do the one thing we could do to decrease consummation of unhealthy products which is raise their price," he said, adding that the tax would generate about $30 million a year, the majority of which could fund public education about obesity.