After winning a referendum in Berkeley in 2014 to institute a soda tax, “public health advocates … are plotting to bring voter referendums and legislation to tax soda in as many as a dozen U.S. cities in 2016,” writes Politico‘s Helena Evich, who says it’s part of a strategy to reduce obesity and chronic diet-related disease. Politico quotes Kelly Henning of Bloomberg Philanthrophies as saying, “We think the Berkeley tax and the Mexico tax are really pushing the debate forward.” But a soda-tax referendum could boomerang, says Politico, and increase turnout by conservative voters.
“They won’t name which cities might be next to carry the soda tax banner – fearing Big Soda will crush fledgling efforts – but possibilities include progressive communities like Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Austin, Texas,” says Politico. Berkeley voters approved the soda tax in a landslide. “This next election cycle will be the first real test of whether advocates can build on their landmark win.”
The American Beverage Association calls soda taxes “a dead end” and a discriminatory approach to grocery sales. San Francisco voters defeated a soda tax in 2014 in a referendum that required a two-thirds majority for passage. Some 55 percent of ballots supported the tax.