In June 2017, the Seattle City Council approved a tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on sugary beverages, including soda, energy drinks, and juice. Now the soda industry has donated almost every dollar of the $20.2 million raised in support of a statewide referendum on Nov. 6 that would prevent other cities and counties in Washington State from following Seattle’s lead.
Despite the big spending, the industry may lose on election day. Initiative 1634 trailed by 20 percentage points, 31-51, in a Crosscut/Elway Poll of registered voters early this month. Pollster Stuart Elway said voter confusion could be one factor, since a “yes” vote means “no” to taxes. In any event, Elway believes I-1634 is very unlikely to pass, said Crosscut, a nonprofit news site. Ballot initiatives usually lose support in the final month before balloting rather than gaining ground, according to Elway. The poll of 400 registered voters found that 51 percent opposed I-1634, 31 percent supported it, and 18 percent were undecided. The margin of error was 5 percent.
I-1634 would prohibit local governments from enacting any new tax, fee, or assessment on groceries, meaning “any raw or processed food or beverage, or any ingredient thereof, intended for human consumption.” The top donors, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Keurig-Dr Pepper, have contributed all but $257,000 of the total $20.2 million in donations. The Yes to Affordable Groceries committee, which is coordinating the pro-initiative effort, has spent nearly $16 million so far, compared to the tiny $15,000 spent by opponents of the initiative.
No city in Washington State has a sales tax on food. Seattle is the only city with a soda tax.
Major newspapers, including the Seattle Times, the Olympian, and the Tacoma News Tribune, oppose I-1634 as an attack by out-of-state interests on local control. “Washington voters shouldn’t allow a deceptive campaign paid for by soda giants to override local decision-making when it comes to how to best combat obesity in local communities,” said the Seattle Times.
On its website, Yes to Affordable Groceries says, “Special interest groups across the country, and here in Washington, are proposing taxes on groceries like meats, dairy, and juices — basic necessities for all families. I-1634 would prevent local governments from enacting new taxes on groceries.”
The Washington State referendum follows the soda industry’s success, through a state law enacted in July, in preventing California cities and counties from considering soda taxes before 2031. In 2016, three Bay Area cities, San Francisco, Oakland, and Albany, followed Berkeley in enacting soda taxes through referendums. Berkeley was the first city, in 2014, to approve a soda tax. Philadelphia, with 1.5 million residents, is the largest city with a soda tax, which was approved by its city council in 2016.