With much sleight of hand – and very little, if any, transparency, the DC Council slipped in an additional increase to the District sugary drink tax, when it passed the DC budget back at the end of May. Proposed by Ward 3 Councilor Mary Cheh as part of the $15.5 billion budget instead of as…
Read More »The City of Brotherly Love passed a special tax on sugary beverages back in June of 2016 with many promises from Mayor Jim Kenney about the money the levy would generate without hurting Philadelphia businesses. It now seems he was wrong on both counts! We’ve advised in the past how the money the tax has…
Read More »A Cook County Circuit Judge granted a temporary injunction enjoining the implementation of the new Cook County penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages until at least July 12 and the court can hear more arguments over the validity of the issue. In granting the petition sought by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Judge Daniel Kubasiak found…
Read More »Well, it may be all the rage in Philadelphia with its proponents pointing gleefully to increased revenues from the new tax, but voters in the southwest are not as enamored with the idea. A two-cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks was soundly defeated by a record number of voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico…
Read More »Illinois and Massachusetts are just the two most recent states that are now considering some kind of new tax on sugary drinks. Illinois Senate Bill 9 would apply a new penny-per-ounce tax on any beverage containing 5 or more grams of sugar that is sold in the state. The tax, which is being viewed as…
Read More »The late John Denver only sang of a metaphorical “Rocky Mountain High” – post-legalized recreational marijuana, it seems far more tangible today! A ballot initiative in Boulder Colorado that would impose a tax of $.02 per ounce on sugary drinks sold within the city is being challenged by residents. The city council approved placing the…
Read More »Maybe it’s the sunshine, or the “healthy living”, but mandated sick leave is spreading to more communities in the Golden State as next month three major municipalities will foist the mandated benefit onto private employers beginning July 1. The state of California began mandating paid sick leave one year ago – after meeting a 30…
Read More »Since it had already passed a preliminary vote last week, it is not surprising that the Philadelphia City Council voted yesterday to impose a 1.5 cents-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks sold in the City of Brotherly Love. On a 13 – 4 vote, the council gave Mayor Jim Kenney the victory on a reduced tax…
Read More »First it was Michael Bloomberg and his fixation with banning retail stores from selling oversized sugary drinks in a single cup (customers would have been allowed to buy multiple small drinks, but apparently that’s another matter); then (where else?) the City of Berkeley, California became the first in the nation to assess an additional tax…
Read More »In keeping with this new fixation on sugar intake, the City Council in Philadelphia has yet to get too sweet on Mayor Jim Kenney’s idea of taxing sugary beverages. This week, there was word, albeit inaccurate, that a committee vote on the issue was planned for Wednesday, when in reality, the Council is expected to…
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