Philadelphia is set to become the first major city in America with a tax on sugary drinks and soda after a city council committee voted to approve a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet drinks and sodas, 6 ABC’s John Rawlins reports.
Mayor Jim Kenney’s original proposal of a 3 cent tax on sugary drinks to raise funding for public parks, libraries, recreation centers and universal pre-K was criticized for being too steep, and lacked the votes to pass.
With protests in the streets Wednesday morning for and against the tax and the city’s legislative deadline approaching, council members reached a compromise slashing the Democratic mayor’s original tax to 1.5 cents and including diet beverages.
The new plan is expected to raise $91 million for these projects over the next year, marginally less than the $95 million expected under Kenney’s original tax proposal.
Democratic city council president Darrell Clark hopes the new tax and pre-K provisions will benefit the city’s underprivileged children, stating “these are taxpayer dollars, and we want to make sure these dollars are being spent in an equitable manner.”
The Associated Press reports that the soda industry plans to sue the city if the tax is implemented, after spending months and millions of dollars attempting to stop the proposal.
Philly’s soda tax made national news in April, when Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton took opposite sides on the issue, with Clinton voicing her support at a city tax forum. After Mayor Kenney accused him of siding with the beverage companies, Sanders stated that “a tax on soda and juice drinks would disproportionately increase taxes on low-income families in Philadelphia.”
Berkeley, Calif. was the first city to pass a tax on sugary drinks, spurring a debate over the amount of cost passed on to the consumer versus the soda companies. A recent study from Cornell University estimated the rise in consumer price at 25 percent, while a University of California, Berkeley study cited a 50-70 percent increase.
Wednesday night’s vote prepared for a longer legislative process, with a council vote scheduled for Thursday and a final vote to take place June 16, in time to be included in next year’s fiscal budget.
