Conservative Musings

Our goal is to have intelligent discussion of the topics of the day. We realize everyone has their opinion and they should be allowed to express it in a discussion forum without calling each other names. We learn from discussion and not from name calling or argument.We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. See details

Showing posts with label sugary drink tax. Show all posts

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Sodas Cost Much More In Seattle And Other Do-Gooder Cities

Costco price labels perfectly expose the absurdity of Seattle’s new sugary drink tax

Jan 6, 2018 11:12 am

Costco pricing labels show just how much sugary drinks are in Seattle now. A new tax on the drinks took effect on January 1. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

To ring in the new year, Seattle implemented a new tax on its residents: the dreaded sugary drink tax. Now, we know just how much the tax will hurt consumers.

How bad is it?

Pricing labels at a Seattle Costco have garnered much attention because they show just how much soda and other sugary drinks now cost Seattle residents. A CBS News manager tweeted pictures showing the price increase of two drinks.

In the first case, the price of a case of Dr. Pepper (36 cans) nearly doubled. According to the picture, Costco sells the soda for $9.99. But with an added tax of $7.56, the soda now costs customers $17.55. In the second case, Costco sells a case of Gatorade for $15.99. But the tax adds $10.34 to the price, which brings the total cost to $26.33.

Despite the steep new prices, Costco was there to remind customers who live in the Seattle city limits that the tax doesn’t apply to its nearby locations outside the city.

What did Seattle do?

Last June, the Seattle city council passed a 1.75 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks. The tax affects sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, juice and other non-milk based products. Non-milk based drinks include many of those sold at Starbucks and other coffee shops. Diet drinks and those from small distributors are exempt from the tax.

Distributors are required to pay the tax. However, the added cost has been directly passed on to consumers in most cases.

The purpose of the tax, Seattle’s progressive leaders allege, is to help thwart people from purchasing the drinks. Much of the tax will be used to fund programs designed to educate young people on making healthy choices.

Do other U.S. cities have a similar tax?

Yes. In 2015, Berkeley, California, became the first U.S. city to implement a sugary drink tax, otherwise known as the “soda tax.”

Many of America’s most progressive cities and municipalities followed suit, including:

Philadelphia
San Fransisco and Oakland
Portland, Oregon
Albany, New York
Boulder, Colorado
Cook County, Illinois, where the city of Chicago is located

Maryland and Virginia also levy a statewide soda tax.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The Nanny Goverment In Philadelphia Really Hits Its Citizens Hard

Woman Outraged at 50% Soda Tax… Taxed $3 on Single Drink!

On Nov. 8, voters of several traditionally blue states decided that they’d had enough of liberal interference in the private lives of American citizens. One of these states was Pennsylvania, which went red for the first time since the Bush-Dukakis landslide of 1988.

Unfortunately, residents in Pennsylvania’s biggest city are finding out that they’re still not rid of liberals and that their meddling influence just grew in a massive way on Jan. 2 — and it was written clear as day on the receipt of many grocery shoppers.

That’s the day when a new tax on sugary drinks took effect in Philadelphia. According to WPVI-TV, that tax will cost shoppers $0.015 per ounce for any “unhealthy” drink like soda or sweetened iced tea.

And customers were clearly feeling the shock, like this woman, who saw what was on her receipt and felt the need to post it to Facebook:

Take this consumer, who bought Propel Fitness Water from northeastern grocery stalwart ShopRite. The beverage itself cost $5.99, but the Philadelphia beverage tax added a staggering $3.04. That’s over 50 percent of the cost of the beverage, for those of you who were brought up with Common Core math.

Sadly, this customer may have gotten off easy. WPVI reported that at least one customer they found, Chuck Andrews, paid over 100 percent of his beverage’s cost in tax. After taking home a jug of iced tea, he realized that the $1.77 he’d paid for the gallon was inflated by $1.92, thanks to the levy.

“When I read the receipt I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I paid more in tax than I did for the product,'” Andrews said. That’s a solid 108 percent of the purchase price. He wasn’t the only one experiencing iced tea sticker shock, either:

The most hilarious response was from the Philadelphia mayor’s office. “The tax is on the distribution of sweetened beverages from companies like Coca-Cola to dealers like supermarkets, and because it’s not a sales tax … distributors don’t have to pass it on to customers,” they said.

Apparently, after reaching the highest echelons of local government, neither the mayor nor those around him have figured out just how taxation influences prices. While I don’t expect liberals to be all that bright when it comes to economic realities, this is especially bad, even for the left. (Philly’s mayor, if you even had to ask, is a Democrat.)

The holy jihad against anything that might be considered pleasurable or more unhealthy that a celery stick continues unabated for liberals, even if taxpayers don’t like it. This is because it has the extra benefit of being a tax windfall for the city.

Once more voters start looking at their grocery receipt, however, this could change in a big way — especially when voters go to the ballot box next time.

H/T BizPac Review

Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter if you agree this tax is absurd.

What are your thoughts on this beverage tax?