Soda Tax Backfires, Now Philadelphia Is Hurting For It
A recent tax was implemented in Philadelphia on the purchase of sodas. The purpose of the tax was to encourage consumers to make healthier choices.
Now the city of Philadelphia is starting to feel the results of this tax hike.
According to HotAir,
Wonders never cease. People stopped buying their soda in the city (and almost undoubtedly a lot of other shopping list items) and decided to shop where prices were lower. The study they reference also goes on to note that there was no corresponding increase in sales of bottled water or healthier beverage options. And as for the revenue question? They don’t even delve into that, but you can do the math easily enough. The tax on soda increased by 17%, but the sales fell by 51%.
So, let’s look at this assuming one million ounces of soda was sold anually before the tax went into effect. If sales had remained the same, the city would have realized $62,400.00 in revenue instead of $54,300.00. But with the volume cut in half, they managed to slash their revenue to $31,200.00. (I was told there would be no math. Apparently City Hall in Philadelphia was operating on the same assumption.) Great job, guys. You gutted your revenue stream, caused layoffs in the beverage industry and depressed sales in the city’s retail outlets, likely impacting entry level jobs.
This is on the same level as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal or some of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s idiotic laws that he’s implemented in New York City.
The Daily Wire reports,
When the soda tax was first announced, workers at Pepsi took a hit. “With sales slumping because of the new Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax, Pepsi said Wednesday that it will lay off 80 to 100 workers at three distribution plants that serve the city,” philly.com reported in March of 2017.
And last month, the local outlet reported that the owner of Acme Markets, who has 16 stores in Philadelphia, had to cut employees’ hours because of the tax: “The beverage tax fell on about 4,000 items. In Acme city stores, soda sales dropped as much as 80 percent. Sales of other items covered by the tax, such as juices, creamers and energy drinks, were down 30 percent, and the number of customers declined by 5 percent. Philly stores cut an average of 150 to 200 employee hours per week, resulting in lighter paychecks for employees.”
But the hit the employees took did not equate to a win for the “health” of its citizens. As noted by Hotair, Philadelphia residents were traveling outside the city to avoid the tax hike on their drinks.
Here’s an idea, stop trying to force people to drink certain beverages. We’re free Americans and can drink sewer water if we please.