BACKFIRE: Philadelphia Implemented Soda Tax, But It Didn't Go As Planned

The citizens of Philadelphia have been rocked by a tax on sugary drinks like soda, although the hike was intended to improve their health.

As outlined by Hotair on Saturday, the “soda tax” has actually led to Philadelphia residents traveling outside the city to buy their soda (and likely other goods), decreased the city’s revenue, and led to layoffs in the local beverage industry and cut hours for employees at small markets. It did not, however, lead to an increase in healthier beverage purchases in the city.

When the soda tax was first announced, workers at Pepsi took a hit. “With sales slumping because of the new Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax, Pepsi said Wednesday that it will lay off 80 to 100 workers at three distribution plants that serve the city,” philly.com reported in March of 2017.

And last month, the local outlet reported that the owner of Acme Markets, who has 16 stores in Philadelphia, had to cut employees’ hours because of the tax: “The beverage tax fell on about 4,000 items. In Acme city stores, soda sales dropped as much as 80 percent. Sales of other items covered by the tax, such as juices, creamers and energy drinks, were down 30 percent, and the number of customers declined by 5 percent. Philly stores cut an average of 150 to 200 employee hours per week, resulting in lighter paychecks for employees."

But the hit the employees took did not equate to a win for the “health” of its citizens. As noted by Hotair, Philadelphia residents were traveling outside the city to avoid the tax hike on their drinks.


A CNN report on a study from medical journal JAMA focused in on the 51% drop in city soda purchases, but admitted: “While researchers found that sales of sugary beverages fell in Philadelphia after the tax, beverage sales in nearby towns and counties without the tax went up. That suggests people may have been traveling to get their soda at a reduced price.”

“People stopped buying their soda in the city (and almost undoubtedly a lot of other shopping list items) and decided to shop where prices were lower,” Hotair noted.

So was there at least an uptick in healthier beverage purchases because of the tax? Nope. “Philadelphia did not see an increase in sales of untaxed beverages such as bottled water,” CNN reported.

CNN did not discuss the revenue hit Philadelphia took, but Hotair did: “The tax on soda increased by 17%, but the sales fell by 51%. So, let’s look at this assuming one million ounces of soda was sold annually before the tax went into effect. If sales had remained the same, the city would have realized $62,400.00 in revenue instead of $54,300.00. But with the volume cut in half, they managed to slash their revenue to $31,200.00.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news...amanda-prestigiacomo

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
BACKFIRE: Philadelphia Implemented Soda Tax, But It Didn't Go As Planned

The citizens of Philadelphia have been rocked by a tax on sugary drinks like soda, although the hike was intended to improve their health.

The kept pushing this as both a way to get people to choose healthier options (but then the jagoffs put the tax on diet soda and things like unsweetened teas anyway!) AND to raise revenue for Pre-K programs.

You can't have it both ways and these geniuses are finding this out now.

Cradle to grave, they want to control it all.

If all the surrounding cities, counties and parishes from coast to coast and border to border would just get on board with this I think it might just work!!!

This reminds me of my militant anti-smoking parents always saying they don't care if the cigarette tax gets raised since they don't smoke. Uh huh. But those taxes never raise the projected revenue, the state spends it anyway and issues bonds to get the cash upfront. Then the taxpayers are on the hook for it. How does that work out for the anti-smokers every time?

Philadelphians, have a Coke and a smile!

"If we had the lottery, we would never have to raise taxes for schools again."

quote:

... the “soda tax” has actually led to Philadelphia residents traveling outside the city to buy their soda (and likely other goods), decreased the city’s revenue, and led to layoffs in the local beverage industry and cut hours for employees at small markets. It did not, however, lead to an increase in healthier beverage purchases in the city.

Hey now, it's not like anyone could have predicted those things would happen.

It seems that Coca-Cola believed they paid enough to defeat this tax. This is a paragraph from an article written for vox dated October 26, 2016 by Julia Belluz.

Coca-Cola executive Clyde Tuggle wrote to Marshall to let her know he was disappointed in Clinton: "Really??? After all we’ve done?" he wrote in an April 20 email. "I hope this has been falsely reported." For context, the soda industry has been pouring millions of dollars into battling these tax measures in cities across the US. Coca-Cola has also donated up to $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, and the food giant and foundation have collaborated on public health commitments and economic development initiatives.

The largest "chunk" of SNAP benefits-- the new way of saying "Food Stamps"-- goes to the purchase of soda. In Philadelphia, those SNAP/EBT card purchases kept a LOT of stores afloat.

How bad is it when the recipients don't even want to pay the soda tax with YOUR money?

quote:

Originally posted by nukeandpave:
"If we had the lottery, we would never have to raise taxes for schools again."

Are you trying to get me stomping and swearing like Yosemite Sam? This is how you do it.

I remember when Illinois first pushed for the state lottery they touted how this would eliminate the school portion of the property tax. HAHAHA. Also when Ill. put tolls in on the highway in 1959 they assured everyone that in 10 years the highway system would all be paid for and the toll booths would be removed...….HAHAHA. 60 years later there still there and the cost has gone from 35 cents to now over $2. Oh yes, you'll be happy to hear that Ill. is over 90 BILLION in debt. Democrats have run this state forever.