The electoral tussles over 1-cent-per-ounce soda taxes in San Francisco and Oakland are becoming two of the most expensive campaigns in California this year, with more than $46 million in donations, says public broadcaster KQED. The American Beverage Association has spent $28.7 million in fighting the taxes, said KQED, noting the nationwide ramification of referendums.
Billionaire businessman Micheal Bloomberg has donated a total of $18.4 million, $9.3 million in the San Francisco campaign and $9.1 million for Oakland, said the Los Angeles Times. Bloomberg attempted to pass a soda tax while mayor of New York City and tried to ban sales of large-size sodas and sugary beverages.
Loyola University law professor Jessica Levinson told KQED that the American Beverage Association, a trade group for the soft drink industry, “probably (has) more to lose if this passes. If there’s a soda tax in San Francisco and/or Oakland, then it will send a signal to cities throughout the state and probably throughout the nation.” Berkeley is the only city to approve, in 2014, a soda tax by balloting. The Philadelphia City Council approved a 1.5-cent tax this summer.
Political science professor Jason McDaniel of San Francisco State University said the beverage association’s advertising against the tax was intended to drive a wedge between progressives on a key issue – the cost of living. “They are giving people reasons to sort of be on different sides of the issue,” he told KQED.
To read a story by Bridget Huber, written for PRI’s “The World” in partnership with FERN, click here. The story is titled, “Immigrant communities are on the front lines of the Bay Area’s soda-tax battle.”