We spotted this sign this afternoon at Boss Drive-In (formerly Burger Boss) while checking out something unrelated in South Delridge. The “soda tax” refers to the “sugary beverages tax” proposed by Mayor Murray in his State of the City speech, as reported here one month ago.
The two-cents-per-ounce tax, to be charged to distributors, would not just be on sodas, as defined: “The ordinance defines sugary drinks to include liquids with a specified amount of caloric sweetener, syrups and powders that are used to prepare sugary beverages,” including fruit drinks, energy drinks, sweetened teas, and ready-to-drink coffee drinks (in bottles/cans/etc., not mixed and served at a coffee shop), as further explained here. The ordinance creating the tax has not yet been introduced so far as we can tell; if approved, the mayor says, it is expected to raise $16 million a year for programs meant to close the educational opportunity gap, “based on recommendations from the Education Summit Advisory Group,” which are detailed in this 150+-page report.
FACT-CHECKING: As for whether it would create $5 sodas – depends on how you crunch the numbers. One way to have a $5 soda would be a base price of $3 for 100 ounces – that’s 12 1/2 cups of soda – and $2 in tax (2 cents an ounce). Since it would be charged to distributors, depends on how they would pass it along.
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