The first soda tax in the nation, Berkeley’s 1-cent-per-ounce levy, hasn’t hurt retail businesses, but it has reduced soda purchases by 9.6 percent, says a study by the University of North Carolina.
The researchers assessed 15.5 million checkout purchases from two large supermarket chains and 26 independent grocers in Berkeley, and then compared their 2015–2016 profits with those of chains in nearby communities. Although soda sales dropped, sales of other drinks, mostly bottled water, rose by 15.6 percent. Interestingly, despite not being taxed, diet soda and other artificially sweetened beverages also saw a dip in sales, by 9.2 percent.
Merchants told The San Francisco Chronicle that customers frequently complain about the soda tax but usually end up either purchasing an alternative drink or, if they’re determined, sticking to soda.
“The city said the soda tax raised $1.5 million last year, of which the bulk has gone to funding nutrition and cooking programs in the Berkeley Unified School District and health programs in community groups including Ecology Center, Healthy Black Families, Berkeley Youth Alternatives, and the YMCA,” said the Chronicle.
Berkeley was the first municipality to pass a soda tax, in 2015, but Oakland, California; Boulder, Colorado; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia have since passed their own.