Friday, June 17, 2016

Miami: A Sugar Tax ... by gimleteye

The city of Philadelphia passed a sugar tax yesterday, after a long and pitched battle by the American Beverage Association.

Looking to raise millions for a bold expansion of early childhood education, Philadelphia City Council on Thursday approved a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened and diet beverages, the first such tax imposed in a major U.S. city.

Miami ought to join this historic measure as soon as possible, and candidates for the November election cycle ought to be asked to take a stand for kids health and opportunities like they did in Philadelphia.

According to the news, tax proponents succeeded because they focused on a plan to significantly increase funding to children's initiatives through revenues generated by the tax.

At EOM, we are all-in on any financial relief for taxpayers persecuted by Florida's shadow government: Big Sugar. Fiscal policy is a matter of choice, and voters do get to choose.

Let's do it for the kids!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do we really need to sink to the point where we are taxing soft drinks? If we want to do something for our kids, how about starting with good parenting and discipline. Neither of my two kids even want to drink sugary drinks. When we go out to eat, we all drink water. Parents set the example at home.

Barbara said...

You don't know what your kids do once out the door. Obesity costs us all, even you 4 water drinkers.

WOOF said...

Taxing food is straight up regressive and shameful.
Not for the children, but 18 cents on a twelve ounce
can of soda from the children.
Is corn syrup sugar , which is in most soft drinks natural?
Is water a diet drink.
If you raise the price on a two liter ,66 ounce coke by 90+ cents
a bottle you will start thriving smuggling operations.

Knock,knonknnock, nock.
Pssst,Lefty sent me.

Anonymous said...

Barbara - You are absolutely correct. We have no idea what kids do when they are out of our view. That doesn't mean we should start taxing. It is a very slippery slope. We allow the government to tax this, and the next thing you know they'll want to tax us to build a stadium for a sport team. Oh, wait!

We've already voted for a penny tax, many times. The tax never goes away. It just gets put toward something else.

New tax? No thanks!
Teaching our children proper eating habits is key.

Geniusofdespair said...

My mother always said if you eat candy your teeth are are going to get rotten. She never bought candy. Then to stretch the can of concentrated orange juice she would add sugar and more water.

IMO said...

oh please this is literally a sugar coated tax increased on the poor.. Read the fine print, included everything for childhood education to general fund obligations like a union worker wage increases... and in years to come it will go the way of every other "special tax" ...leveraged and borrowed against and siphoned off to fund whatever dog and pony show they feel like.. Who knows maybe the Eagles would like a roof on their stadium.

Want to make sugar expensive, cut taxes and save the planet? tax the farm subsidies