SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN CONSIDERS A SODA TAX

February 5, 2014
NACS Online
City lawmakers will introduce legislation that would add a 2-cent-per-ounce tax on energy drinks, sports drinks and soft drinks.
​SAN FRANCISCO – Here we go again. San Francisco lawmakers are gearing up for another attempt to pass a soft drink tax, after an earlier effort failed, the Associated Press reports. This time, the measure would place a 2-cent-per-ounce tax on energy drinks, sports drinks and soda. If approved by the entire Board of Supervisors, voters would have the opportunity to decide its fate in the November election.
Beverage distributors would pay the tax, as would retailers who buy directly from the source. The city predicts such a tax could bring in around $31 annually, with funds going for school and recreation center nutrition and recreation efforts, to public drinking fountains and bottle filling stations, dental health programs, and healthy food service initiatives. The proposal was scheduled to be put on the floor yesterday.
“We are experiencing an epidemic of health problems caused by sodas and other sugary beverages — including diabetes and obesity afflicting adults, teenagers, and even young children — and we have a responsibility to act to confront this escalating public health challenge,” said Supervisor Scott Wiener, who is one of four supporters of the bill. “Just as taxes drove down tobacco use, a small tax on sodas and other sugary beverages will reduce consumption and expand access to active recreation and nutrition education for children and adults.”
The Coalition for an Affordable City, funded in part by the American Beverage Association, has launched a website against the tax. “This is not just a tax on soda. This is a tax on juice drinks, ice teas, powdered drinks, sports drinks, and hundreds of other beverages,” reads material on the site. “The last thing we need is a tax that makes it even more expensive to live and work in San Francisco.”
So far, no American city or locality has succeeded in passing a soda tax or other legislation aimed at lowering consumption of soft drinks. New York rejected a penny-per-ounce proposal, and a state appeals court reversed New York City’s ban on soda sold in cups bigger than 16 ounces. Two years ago, the California communities of Richmond and El Monte refused to pass a penny-per-ounce tax on retailers that stocked sugared beverages.