CHICAGO -- Beverage retailers and makers in Philadelphia and Cook County, Ill., are ratcheting up their efforts to beat new taxes on soft drinks, while a third effort just begins to take hold.
Here’s a look at where each struggle stands …
The Commonwealth Court of Philadelphia on June 14, in a 5-2 ruling, shot down an appeal by the American Beverage Association (ABA) of a lower court’s decision that declared the city’s soda tax legal. The ABA is expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The tax went into effect in January, adding 1.5 cents an ounce to the cost of most sugary and diet beverages sold in Philadelphia. Since then, beverages sales in the state have dropped 45%, according to multiple reports. In some cases, manufacturers have discontinued offering 2-liter bottles and 12-packs of drinks, calling them too expensive. And nearly 400 manufacturing jobs have been cut in bottling plants, according to report.
In Cook County, Ill., the ABA and its “Can the Tax” campaign are urging consumers to “join the fight to stop” a beverage tax that will go into effect July 1.
“Hundreds of beverages—pop, sports drinks, juice drinks, ice teas, lemonades, even flavored waters and beverages with zero calories—will be hit with tax rates of as much as 30% to 67%,” states the campaign website, which includes a countdown clock “until Cook Country shrinks your wallet.
In stores, the campaign is providing bottleneck hangers (see photo) urging consumers to contact their country commissioner “and tell them to can the tax.”
The penny-per-ounce tax will add 72 cents to the cost of a six-pack of soda or 68 cents for a 2-liter bottle.
Meanwhile, Seattle's City Council agreed on June 5 to subject any beverages containing “added caloric sweeteners” to a new tax of 1.75 cents per fluid ounce beginning in 2018. This includes sports drinks, energy drinks, certain fruit juices and, of course, soda. For a 2-liter bottle of soda, the tax would be $1.18, according to The Seattle Times.
Voters could force the issue to be put to referendum, according to a report by the Tax Foundation. A voter petition with 16,345 signatures would need to be filed within the next month.
“The City Council targeted small business owners and low-income working families with a job-killing tax that will only worsen Seattle’s income inequality, and, despite what councilmembers are promising, it won’t improve public health,” the ABA said in a statement supporting a special election on the issue. “When this tax went to a ballot in Santa Fe, N.M., just last month it was overwhelmingly defeated by the people. Things are hard enough for people living paycheck to paycheck, and this tax will make it even harder.”
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