Seattle has amassed more than $10 million in revenue from its soda tax since it started the beverage levy six months ago.
As Fox Business reports, officials in the liberal city that has lost a lot of money on public transit projects in the last year are hoping the soda tax makes the city even more revenue than they expected.
On Tuesday, Seattle’s finance and administrative services department released revenue figures totaling $10.5 million.
Although the tax was supposedly stuck on sugar-sweetened drinks in the hopes of people turning to purported healthier alternatives, the revenue gain would apparently indicate that Seattle citizens are continuing to buy their favorite sodas.
The city actually questioned its citizens as to the advisability of the tax and a majority said they wanted to pay more for soda — although lower-income, black and Asian citizens were not as enthusiastic about the levy that amounts to less than 2 cents per ounce of soda. The tax was not applied to diet soda or drinks that are mainly milk-based.