Hard to fathom how elected officials can see an idea fail in one community only to think the failure was so good that they should give it a try in their own community, but that appears to be what happens more than not. The City of Philadelphia adopted a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages that led to soda costing more than beer in the City of Brotherly Love, and Philadelphians driving outside the city limits to purchase soda without the tax! As a result, revenues from the new levy came in significantly below projections and the city budget worsened. The Philadelphia soda tax is going so well that earlier this week, three Philadelphia-area locals of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters called for its repeal! It worked so well in Philly, Illinois’ Cook County enacted a soda tax at 1 cent per ounce last August, only to see its residents driving to Indiana to avoid the additional levy and after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, Cook County officials formally voted to repeal the additional tax a few weeks ago. Against that backdrop (and we might add, empirical evidence), some officials in Maryland’s Montgomery County think the notion of taxing sugary drinks will be a real winner and are seriously entertaining adopting the addition levy. Indeed, ignorance is bliss!