The appeal of the soda tax as a revenue cure-all may be fizzing out a bit based on the money the new tax levy is bringing in in the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia officials this week acknowledged that actual revenue from the 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks came in at $6.9 million for the month of June, yielding a 6 month total of $39.3 million since it became effective on the 1st of January against city estimates of over $46 million. As we advised you last week, the American Beverage Association and other plaintiffs have a challenge pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. It was the Illinois Retail Merchants Association that challenged the soda tax out in Cook County Illinois. The legality of the Cook County soda tax is up for another hearing today before the same Cook County Circuit Court that issued a preliminary injunction a few weeks ago. In response to that injunction, County President Toni Preckwinkle played “the boy who cried wolf” and threatened 1100 layoffs throughout the county if the tax wasn’t allowed. If the court doesn’t go along with the County’s “leader” will she threaten to hold her breath until it does?
