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Do other big cities have a "Soda Tax" or are we just lucky in Philly?

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Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
Soda Tax:
A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include, carbonated drinks, uncarbonated drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks.

So as the New Year dawned, so did the new taxes. Philadelphia has implemented the "Soda Tax" a 1.5cents per once tax on the above products. So the .99 cent Sunny D I just purchased for the kids was $1.89 after tax. WTF? It is supposed to raise money for Pre-K and homeless ducks or some shit but I just see tax and spend. I guess we're going back to making Kool-Aid and Iced Tea in the Soapbox Killer Household.
 

Gutek

Member
Soda Tax:
A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include, carbonated drinks, uncarbonated drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks.

So as the New Year dawned, so did the new taxes. Philadelphia has implemented the "Soda Tax" a 1.5cents per once tax on the above products. So the .99 cent Sunny D I just purchased for the kids was $1.89 after tax. WTF? It is supposed to raise money for Pre-K and homeless ducks or some shit but I just see tax and spend. I guess we're going back to making Kool-Aid and Iced Tea in the Soapbox Killer Household.

That's what you get for buying Sunny D for your kids.
 

Guevara

Member
That tax is to tell you not to buy sugary crap.

Other cities would have a soda tax too, but the soda lobby has fought tooth-and-nail to stop them.
 
Wait so does that mean carbonated water is included in those taxes? Makes more sense to raise the alcohol tax to me that I assume these places already have.
 
So the original plan was 3c per ounce for regular soda and 0c per ounce for diet soda? And then they changed to 1.5c per ounce on everything. wtf is that about? What's the point of disincentivising diet soda?
 

mf.luder

Member
So the original plan was 3c per ounce for regular soda and 0c per ounce for diet soda? And then they changed to 1.5c per ounce on everything. wtf is that about? What's the point of disincentivising diet soda?

Maybe that the argument can be made that it still isn't healthy?
 

bigkrev

Member
This is a tax that is disproportionately affect lower income families, but is aimed at helping them

This has made zero sense from the start
 

p_xavier

Authorized Fister
So the original plan was 3c per ounce for regular soda and 0c per ounce for diet soda? And then they changed to 1.5c per ounce on everything. wtf is that about? What's the point of disincentivising diet soda?
Because diet soda is even worse for health?
 
So the original plan was 3c per ounce for regular soda and 0c per ounce for diet soda? And then they changed to 1.5c per ounce on everything. wtf is that about? What's the point of disincentivising diet soda?

I'm totally in favor of taxes like this to disincentivize bad things, but yeah, that's just dumb.

If anything, we should want current soda drinkers to switch to diet.

Because diet soda is even worse for health?

Citation needed.
 

Glix

Member
Bloomberg tried to do a ban and people acted like he was trying to take their guns away or whatever. Was a total shitshow.

Admittedly it was heavy handed... but the amount of idiocy on display...

"I can't buy a two liter of Coke anymore so I have to buy a bunch of smaller ones and it costs me more!!!!!!"

WHOOSH x 1000000000000

@ Bigkrev - ARGHGHGHGHG that argument drives me crazy. The point is to make them STOP drinking it!!! Nobody complains that the brutal insane unfair cig taxes affect low income people more....
 

TyrantII

Member
Soda Tax:
A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include, carbonated drinks, uncarbonated drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks.

So as the New Year dawned, so did the new taxes. Philadelphia has implemented the "Soda Tax" a 1.5cents per once tax on the above products. So the .99 cent Sunny D I just purchased for the kids was $1.89 after tax. WTF? It is supposed to raise money for Pre-K and homeless ducks or some shit but I just see tax and spend. I guess we're going back to making Kool-Aid and Iced Tea in the Soapbox Killer Household.

Food tax is $0.72 on $0.99 in Philly?

I don't think you bought a 0.99 product.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Seems ridiculous to tax the consumer, and not the producer. Introduce a tax on sugar so companies are encouraged to not use the crap in their products as much.

There is certainly a problem with sugar in consumer products. But it's not solved by putting financial penalties on the consumer.
 

Allforce

Member
We don't have tax on food here but drinks have always been taxed. Nothing specifically called a "soda tax", just every drink falls under the state sales tax percentage.
 

Allforce

Member
Food tax is $0.72 on $0.99 in Philly?

I don't think you bought a 0.99 product.

It's per ounce he said, so a 48 oz bottle of Sunny D would be 72 cents taxed at 1.5 cents per ounce. No matter what the price of the bottle is.

Pretty crazy actually.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Stupid question but this all cover things like Diet Soda which don't contain real sugar?
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
@ Bigkrev - ARGHGHGHGHG that argument drives me crazy. The point is to make them STOP drinking it!!! Nobody complains that the brutal insane unfair cig taxes affect low income people more....


What? Of course they do. Because it does. Poor people smoke more and consume more soda and have less ability to pay so it affects them more.

This comes up every time a cigarette tax increase is discussed.
 

Allforce

Member
All sales tax does, right?

Or are you saying lower income families need more soda than other families?

I think in general it affects low income families more because when they're shopping they don't buy the $5.99 bottle of all natural orange juice they buy the 99 cent bottle of Sunny D like the OP bought.

It's expensive and time consuming to eat healthy in the US. Low income people have neither the money or the time so these taxes hit them hardest.
 

TyrantII

Member
It's per ounce he said, so a 48 oz bottle of Sunny D would be 72 cents taxed at 1.5 cents per ounce. No matter what the price of the bottle is.

Pretty crazy actually.

Damn, Sunny D is dirt cheap. I figured it was a 12 ounce bottle.

Yeah, don't buy 48 ounces of SD for your kids, it's sugar water. For the same price you can buy frozen Orange Juice concentrate and make just as much OJ. It's high in sugar as well, but it actually has some nutrients in it, unlike flavored sugar waters.
 

Sulik2

Member
The tax should national and it should be as high as the cigarette tax. The long term effects on health for sugar are just as bad as smoking and cost society and healthcare a fortune.
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
I think in general it affects low income families more because when they're shopping they don't buy the $5.99 bottle of all natural orange juice they buy the 99 cent bottle of Sunny D like the OP bought.

It's expensive and time consuming to eat healthy in the US. Low income people have neither the money or the time so these taxes hit them hardest.

Natural juice isn't that good for you either. Sure it has nutrients absent from soda, but shouldn't everyone stop drinking sugar? There's plenty of sugar in everything else.
 

Timeaisis

Member
Soda tax is one of the dumbest things ever conceived. Not only is it the fed trying to control what people drink (which is beyond asinine), but it very negatively effects many people who suddenly can't afford drinks for their kids at the grocery store.

This is a tax that is disproportionately affect lower income families, but is aimed at helping them

This has made zero sense from the start

Mhmm.
 

Glix

Member
What? Of course they do. Because it does. Poor people smoke more and consume more soda and have less ability to pay so it affects them more.

This comes up every time a cigarette tax increase is discussed.

Right. But the point of the tax is to get people to stop doing unhealthy things, especially low income people who have a more difficult time getting good health care.

I smoke. The tax fucking KILLS me. Its $12 a fucking pack in NYC. But I understand why. I understand I need to quit, and quite frankly the financial burden is what is pushing me towards it. These punitive taxes work.
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
It finally passed in the Bay Area and it's great.
A small tax on a major health crisis, and the money goes toward education particularly in schools about the negative health effects of excessive sugar.

People hope anyway.
 

Sulik2

Member
Soda tax is one of the dumbest things ever conceived. Not only is it the fed trying to control what people drink (which is beyond asinine), but it very negatively effects many people who suddenly can't afford drinks for their kids at the grocery store.



Mhmm.

Whats wrong with giving their kids free water?
 
It's per ounce he said, so a 48 oz bottle of Sunny D would be 72 cents taxed at 1.5 cents per ounce. No matter what the price of the bottle is.

Pretty crazy actually.

I have no probably charging that much for a 48oz bottle.

That shouldn't be 99cents
 

Glix

Member
Soda tax is one of the dumbest things ever conceived. Not only is it the fed trying to control what people drink (which is beyond asinine), but it very negatively effects many people who suddenly can't afford drinks for their kids at the grocery store.



Mhmm.

I hope you are also supportive of the legalization of ALL drugs.
 
Why single out sugary drinks? How about implement taxes on all high caloric foods starting with your Philly Cheesesteaks. Lets slippery slope this bitch
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Whats wrong with giving their kids free water?

Water? What are we, animals?

Soda tax is one of the dumbest things ever conceived. Not only is it the fed trying to control what people drink (which is beyond asinine), but it very negatively effects many people who suddenly can't afford drinks for their kids at the grocery store.

Public health initiatives try to do exactly this in all kinds of domains. Do you think we should eliminate all concern for public health?
 

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
The tax should national and it should be as high as the cigarette tax. The long term effects on health for sugar are just as bad as smoking and cost society and healthcare a fortune.

Sounds extreme, but this.
 

the1npc

Member
Soda tax is one of the dumbest things ever conceived. Not only is it the fed trying to control what people drink (which is beyond asinine), but it very negatively effects many people who suddenly can't afford drinks for their kids at the grocery store.



Mhmm.

Thats the point its to get people to stop buyinh their kids liquid garbage
 
Soda tax is one of the dumbest things ever conceived. Not only is it the fed trying to control what people drink (which is beyond asinine), but it very negatively effects many people who suddenly can't afford drinks for their kids at the grocery store.
Tons of taxes are trying to control what people do. It's one of the most useful things to use tax for. Healthy drinks should be cheaper then unhealthy ones.
 
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