Amended bill would add a 1.75 cents per ounce tax to sweetened beverages, which would be paid by distributors.
Seattle officials are expected to decide a soda tax, which could impact soda sales in convenience stores.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s soda tax legislation was revised to kick out diet drinks before moving toward the final vote of the full city council, the Seattle Times recently reported. The city council will likely vote on the measure today, Monday.
The amended bill would add a 1.75 cents per ounce tax to sweetened beverages, which would be paid by distributors. The final proposal also exempts small manufacturers. Medium-sized manufacturers would have a reduced tax rate. The revisions will cost the city around $8 million in lost revenue.
The Martin Luther King County Labor Council and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce oppose the tax because it would hurt the local economy. Seattle officials said the tax revenue would go to healthful eating and education initiatives.
SODA POP
Early last month, voters in Santa Fe, N.M. rejected a city tax on soft drinks. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s city tax on soda has had impacted tax revenue in the city. The Philadelphia Beverage Tax generated $6.5 million in revenue in April, a decrease from the $7 million earned in March, according to a report from the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Soda taxes have so far proved controversial in the cities that have taken them up — and Philadelphia, the first major U.S. city to implement such a tax, is no exception. The city’s 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages has been a point of contention for many ever since it was enacted in June 2016.
The lower-than-expected tax revenue figures suggest that consumers may be purchasing less sugary beverages than before — or are traveling outside the city limits to purchase them.