Yesterday in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton noted that she was “very supportive” of Mayor Jim Kenney’s soda tax plan, the highest such tax proposed in the United States:
This new tax would make a 20-ounce bottle of soda 60 cents more expensive for distributors, who would obviously pass those costs on to consumers, forcing them to pay more for every bottle of Sprite and can of Coke they purchase. Business Insider noted how the tax could “significantly” affect consumers:
Kenney’s new city budget taxes soda at $0.03 an ounce, according to a report by the New York Times. The policy would make a 20-ounce bottle of soda $0.60 more expensive for distributors, much of which could be passed on to consumers in the form of significantly higher prices.
According to The New York Times, the Philadelphia plan is “the highest soda tax proposed anywhere in the country.” In fact, the only other city in the nation that has a soda tax today is the left-wing bastion of Berkeley, California.
As part of his budget, introduced this month, Mr. Kenney has proposed taxing sugar-sweetened beverages at 3 cents an ounce, the highest soda tax proposed anywhere in the country.
In recent years, soda taxes have been proposed to curb childhood obesity, but recent studies have found that past soda taxes haven’t worked to address that problem. And Philadelphia’s plan is isn’t being promoted as a health initiative, but as a way to raise $400 million over five years to fund pre-school and infrastructure projects, but Philadelphia doesn’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to education spending.
Meanwhile, many local leaders worry that “the burden would fall hardest of those Kenney is trying to help: the poor”:
Council president Darrell Clarke has not taken a side yet, but he’s concerned the burden would fall hardest on those Kenney is trying to help: the poor. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of analysis to determine where those sugary drinks are being sold,” he says. “So the question is, is that fair?”
So the bottom line is that if Hillary Clinton supports the largest tax ever proposed on soda, what wouldn’t she tax?