ClydeR
11-11-2016, 10:17 AM
The power to tax is the power to destroy. Would you stop buying soda if a tax caused the price to go up by 30˘ per can? Did cigarette taxes curb cigarette consumption?
At least one city applies its soda tax to sugar free beverages if they have artificial sweetener. What's the point of that?
The beverage industry spent a lot of money to defeat soda taxes in four American cities Tuesday, but it lost in every one of them.
The victories for soda-tax advocates — in San Francisco, Oakland and Albany, Calif., and Boulder, Colo. — were decisive. Those communities now join Berkeley, Calif., and Philadelphia in embracing plans to tax sugary beverages.
The pro-tax forces had the help of their own deep pockets. The billionaires Michael Bloomberg and John and Laura Arnold donated heavily to the pro-tax campaigns. They didn’t match industry spending, but they got close. Altogether, the Bay Area campaigns cost about $50 million, more than was spent on the state’s Senate race, medical marijuana initiative and gun control measures combined.
More... (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/soda-taxes-sweep-to-victories-despite-facing-big-spending.html)
At least one city applies its soda tax to sugar free beverages if they have artificial sweetener. What's the point of that?
The beverage industry spent a lot of money to defeat soda taxes in four American cities Tuesday, but it lost in every one of them.
The victories for soda-tax advocates — in San Francisco, Oakland and Albany, Calif., and Boulder, Colo. — were decisive. Those communities now join Berkeley, Calif., and Philadelphia in embracing plans to tax sugary beverages.
The pro-tax forces had the help of their own deep pockets. The billionaires Michael Bloomberg and John and Laura Arnold donated heavily to the pro-tax campaigns. They didn’t match industry spending, but they got close. Altogether, the Bay Area campaigns cost about $50 million, more than was spent on the state’s Senate race, medical marijuana initiative and gun control measures combined.
More... (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/soda-taxes-sweep-to-victories-despite-facing-big-spending.html)