What is it about politicians? When they have budget problems, their solution is to contrive all kind of excuses to create and raise taxes. Cost cutting is seen as performing an unnatural act. The newest gimmick is a “Soda Tax”, basically a tax on sugary beverages. Philadelphia started the trend. Their efforts are fizzling out and causing problems.
Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, Albany (CA), Boulder. Seattle and Cook County (Chicago) IL have also jumped on board. The politicos view the tax as a win for everyone. People will consume less sugary beverages and not get fat, while the funding can be used for inner city projects.
Philadelphia imposed a 1.5 cents per ounce tax on most sugar based drinks or artificial sugar substitutes. The goal is to raise $7.6 million per month in revenue.
Philly.com published a great article, “The Soda Tax: Will Your Favorite Beverage Cost More?” Here are a few examples:
- Arizona Arnold Palmer Lite Iced Tea & Lemonade – The tax increases the cost of this product by 77%.
- Gatorade Thirst Quencher Lemon-Lime – The tax increases the cost of this product by 48%
- Coca-Cola Classic – The tax increases the cost of this product by 51%.
Not to be outdone, Seattle Mayor, Ed Murray, who wants to be known as the most progressive mayor in the nation, proposed a $.02 cents per ounce tax. His reasons were, “Improve health by reducing consumptions of sugary drinks, and fund education programs aimed at improving the graduation of minority youth.”
The mayor received backlash and changed the plan to 1.75 cents on sugary drinks while adding diet soda to the list of items to be taxed.
Reason.com reports, “Seattle Mayor Proposes Soda Tax To Fight White Privilege”:
Determined to silence local critics who have suggested he isn’t America’s most progressive mayor (Emphasis Mine), Seattle’s Ed Murray has packed so much conflicted social justice into a simple soda tax no one in the Emerald City is quite sure what to make of it.
After it was suggested to him his proposed two-cents-an-ounce tax on soda sweetened with sugar would be borne disproportionately by the poor and people of color, Murray lowered the levy and included all sweetened drinks, including diet soda.
Diet drinks, Hizzoner reasoned, were more likely to be consumed by “upper middle class white people.” It had become for him “an issue of equity,” a way to tackle “white privileged institutionalized racism.”
While I’m not going to deal with his racial remarks, it’s just another politician pandering for votes with little regard for the consequences.
So how’s it working in Philadelphia?
After two months Philly.com reports, “Soda companies, supermarkets report 30-50% sales drop from soda tax.” So, why aren’t the politicos dancing in the streets, they are changing the behavior they wanted to change?
“The city predicted a 27 percent sales decline industry-wide as a result of the tax but early returns from some beverage sellers show higher losses, fueling a resurgence of the anti-soda tax coalition that fought vigorously against the tax last summer.
To hit its annual target, the city needs to collect $7.6 million a month in tax revenue. …Early projections from the city’s quarterly manager’s report predict only $2.3 million will come through in the first collection.”
They have not changed behavior:
Jeff Brown, CEO of Brown’s Super Stores, which manages six ShopRite stores in the city, said beverage sales were down 50 percent …compared with the same period in 2016. More concerning, he said, is a 15 percent dip in overall sales at city stores.
“People didn’t change what they drink,” Brown said. “They changed where they’re buying it.”
Day’s Beverages, an independent soft-drink distributor, has seen … a 50 percent boost in Camden, Wilmington, and Bensalem, owner David Day said.
“We’re one block out of Philadelphia, in Delaware County, and you can’t imagine how many stores are coming to our warehouse and picking up our soda. I don’t care what they do – they’re coming here as a cash-and-carry. Our doors are open to everyone,” he said. “We don’t police where it’s going.”
The buy elsewhere premise may be accurate. The National Institutes of Health publication, “Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?”, concludes: “Our results suggest that soft drink taxes influence BMI, but that the impact is small in magnitude.”
People are losing jobs:
“…Brown said he suspects he will lose about 300 people, which amounts to one-fifth of his total workforce voluntarily and through layoffs in coming months.
Bob Brockway, chief operating officer of Canada Dry Delaware Valley, said sales were down 45 percent in Philadelphia. The company will lay off 20 percent of its workforce the first week in March.”
Philly.com also reports on Pepsi:
“…Pepsi said Wednesday that it will lay off 80 to 100 workers at three distribution plants that serve the city.
…The beverage tax …has cut sales by 40 percent in the city, PepsiCo Inc. spokesman Dave DeCecco said.
“Unfortunately, …we have been forced to give notice that we intend to eliminate 80 to 100 positions, including frontline and supervisory roles.”
The response from Philadelphia Mayor Kenney is laughable:
“I didn’t think it was possible for the soda industry to be any greedier,” Kenney said in an emailed statement. ” … They are so committed to stopping this tax from spreading to other cities, that they are not only passing the tax they should be paying onto their customer, they are actually willing to threaten working men and women’s jobs rather than marginally reduce their seven figure bonuses.”
| Dear Mr. Mayor,
All taxes, from all levels of government are charged directly or reflected in the selling price of their product. Expecting beverage distributors to eat over $90 million in soda taxes is ridiculous! The responsibility of management is to protect their stockholders and employees, not enhance your political career! |
I recently wrote, “Politicians Should Not Be Allowed To Run For Public Office.” What a perfect example! A politician who feels corporations should absorb taxes has no clue about the private sector. Geesh!
Meanwhile, back in Seattle:
Reuters reported, “Boeing to lay off hundreds more engineers”:
“Boeing Co warned employees …it planned another round of involuntary layoffs that would affect hundreds of engineers at its commercial airplanes unit…
The latest job cuts followed a prior involuntary reduction of 245 workers…”
Perhaps Mayor Murray will be pleased with the diversity and fairness. Engineers, beverage workers and those who lost their jobs when Seattle raised their minimum wage to $15/hour will all commingle in the unemployment line.
Woodrow Wilson (the Godfather of the progressive movement) would be proud.
Meanwhile the few remaining taxpayers will be asked to carry the load. Much like Philadelphia, when they complain they will be labeled as greedy.
There is some good news
The public will find ways around the system. Jobs will be created – a black market distribution system will be spawned.
Remember the movie, “Smokey and the Bandit?” In 1977 it was illegal to sell Coors east of the Mississippi River without a permit. Truck driver Bo “Bandit” Darville (Burt Reynolds) agrees to pick up the beer in Texas and drive it to Georgia within 28 hours. Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) embarks on a high-speed chase after Bandit. It was a hilarious movie.
The demand for sweetened beverages will remain high and enterprising entrepreneurs will find a way to work around the system and beat the tax. NASCAR was spawned from bootleggers during prohibition. Might we see races with unmarked delivery trucks in the future?
In the meantime…
Draconian taxes have affected the cigarette industry, as politicians do their social engineering to raise tax revenues. I’m sure many politicos hope the soft drink industry will soon follow.
Some politicians seem to feel they are smarter than the common people and know what is best for them – whether they like it or not. Soon after the British voted to leave the European Union (EU) The Express reported, “Juncker (President of EU) ORDERS Europe: Don’t hold any more referendums as voters will choose to LEAVE.”
“JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER has begged EU leaders not to hold in-out referendums because he fears it will backfire and voters will choose to LEAVE.
Terrified Mr. Juncker admitted he knows European’s have a “lack of love” for the Brussels club.”
What ever happened to representative government? Big Brother wants to take away our soda pop. The public is fed up with a government telling us what we can eat, drink or put in our child’s school lunch box!
The City of Santa Fe, NM put the idea of a soda tax to a vote. The Albuquerque Journal reported:
“…Santa Fe voters soundly rejected a proposed 2-cents-per-ounce tax on the distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages in a special election unlike anything New Mexico’s capital city has seen before.
A record 37.6 percent of registered voters turned out for the election – more than the hotly contested 2014 three-way race for mayor won by Javier Gonzales, who proposed the tax – and 58 percent voted “no.”
I wonder what would have happened if the other locations put the tax to a popular vote instead of the local politicos deciding what is best for the people?
Remember the 1970’s commercial, “Leggo my Eggo?” Maybe the voters are telling Big Brother to “Keep your paws off my pop!”
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Epilogue
The Seattle mayor may soon be known as the most progressive ex-mayor in the country. Right after completing this article, he announced he won’t seek re-election – for reasons having nothing to do with this article.
I was asked if I still wanted to run the article. Darn right! The purpose was not to influence elections – but rather to educate our readers. Should a soda-tax be proposed in your town, you will know the facts.
And Finally…
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” – Thomas Jefferson
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Until next time…
Dennis
www.MillerOnTheMoney.com
Great article and spot on. Our country is slowly imploding because of idiocy like this and much more. I’ll keep stacking and watch the train wreck.
I live in Minnesota – Land of 10,000 Taxes. The Minneapolis government (loosely called) is completely controlled by extreme leftist. They are hell bent on ruining this town.
Social engineering at it’s finest:
The city council has enacted a ban against plastic bags for grocery stores. But that’s not all – they mandated a 5 cent charge for a paper bag! With an exception for customers who use public assistance to buy food. These welfare sluts have money to buy booze, smokes, blow, crack, weed, but not 5 cents for a bag.
Mpls has an additional sales tax, a restaurant tax, and an entertainment tax. You go to a restaurant, and some guy is playing a piano – you get socked with almost a 15% tax!
The also banned selling ‘flavored’ tobacco and cigarettes. However they made an exemption for menthol cigarettes – cause they know their primary constituents – niggers, smoke menthol.
They want to pass a law that for every 30 hrs of work, you get 1 hr ‘personal time’. This is to pertain to everyone working in Minneapolis. Even if your company is in the burbs, if the person works in Mpls, they are entitled to this benefit. Right now the Chamber of Commerce is suing the shit out of them for this one.
And of course, they’re pushing this $15/hr bullshit, for know-nothing burger flippers.
When I moved here in 1980 (escaped from PA) it was a nice place. But the Democrats have completely taken over, loaded us up with queers, lesbos, Somali’s (not as bad a niggers – but different), leftist’s, and rabid bicycle nuts.
We live near the Minneapolis boarder – needless to say – we buy almost everything outside of Minneapolis.
Most people in Mpls – NEVER GO DOWN TOWN It’s a damn shame the taxpayers are being alienated.
I hate these fuckers sooo much.
Dutch,
Isn’t wicked cold in the winter.I would move other than the beautiful blondes. While I worked for a “Minnesoter” company in the 1990’s the owner was a liberal woman, but her dad who started the company was reasonably conservative kept them in line. Her husband was a cuck.
Thanks,
Bob
The same in every big city to one degree or another.
Yeah, all the problems in Philly are due to the greedy businessmen who insist on passing the tax through to consumers. If government ran the soda industry this would never happen.
Maybe the Philly mayor should ask Nicolas Maduro how to run these businesses.
It’s for the children…..
Quickest way to get less of something is to tax it.
Except it’s double edged. Politicians get less revenue than they expected and the people have less money to fuel the economy.
So in their brilliance they double down and raise the tax further fueling the negative feedback loop.
Look for the silver lining.
The surrounding area stores are all stocking up on soda & smiling.
Enterprising local individuals are buying vans & pallet jacks after negotiating a best price with a distributor in the surrounding area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9Vzb6R_58
Kenny is contradicting himself. If the soda manufacturers absorbed the tax, and prices did NOT increase, why would anybody lose weight if their consumption did not decrease?
Just think how crazy it will be when public pensions become completely insolvent. As the Ponzi schemes, known as public pensions, run out of money there will be no end to how crazy, and to what degree the government theft will become. I read an article the other day which talked about some European countries giving traffic tickets based on gross earnings. Expect that to become a reality here in the U.S. How about the ultimate tax; A tax for breathing? If Al Gore has his way that too could become a reality. After all, isn’t that what the hoax known as “Global Warming” is really all about? Here in Michigan our illustrious governor, Rick “Flint Boy Rick” Snyder is making the people in Flint pay for water they can’t drink. That’s right. He wants the very people he knowingly were being poisoned to pay a tax for water they can’t even use. What a guy, huh? Now there’s a public servant who puts the public first!!
The dreams politicians scheme to raise revenue will be endless as times worsen. And you can bet times will become much much worse.
Once again, the media performs its magic and screws the pooch. Science? Engineering? Facts? Nope. It’s all about feewings.
The Flint water crisis was a mess made by local politicians and career government wonks who wanted to save a buck by not following the proper engineering procedures. The Flint water system was fine when the water was kept at the proper pH to maintain the protective coating that kept the last vestiges of lead pipes in residential services encapsulated (and therefore kept from leaching lead into the water). The locals went against the engineering report that said that if the water source was changed to the Flint river a pH treatment plant would be required to maintain the pH and thus the encapsulation that maintained water safety. Don’t freak out, this is done in system with legacy services of a certain age. In other words, pretty much everywhere.
That being said, it was a fine idea for Flint to divorce from the mouth breathers that inhabit the Detroit Water and Sewer department. Just put the blame where it should properly lie. The locals fucked it up and left Snyder holding the steaming bag of shit. This is an object lesson showing that local elections are often much more important than federal.
It is pointless to tax soda by itself. If they were to tax all forms of sugar AND all carbs then it might begin to have a material impact on obesity. These foods should cost 3-10 times as much as they do just to include the long term health care cost associated with eating them.
$10 billion on soda/yr (or more) and $2 billion
on fruits/veg. Just a factoid.
Look out, the taxers are scheming to tax the
air we breathe…full of chemtrails/we fund our own
demise.