A good-government group, the Civic Federation of Chicago, backed the proposed 1-cent-an-ounce tax on sugary beverages for Cook County, the second-most populous county in the country and home to Chicago. The County Board will vote on the tax, part of a $44 billion budget for fiscal 2017, in mid-November, roughly a week after four cities vote on soda taxes.
Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle said the soda tax was a budget-balancing necessity and would avert the layoff of sheriff’s deputies, prosecutors and public defenders. If the board agrees, Cook County, with 40 percent of Illinois’ 12.9 million people, would be the largest locality with a soda tax. The Philadelphia City Council approved a 1.5-cent soft drink tax in June, also as a fiscal tool. Philadelphia, with 1.5 million people, is the fifth-largest city in the nation.
In a 96-page analysis, the Civic Federation said the proposed budget was “a reasonable and balanced approach for the next fiscal year.” Preckwinkle expects the soda tax to generate $74.6 million in the year after taking effect next July. It would apply to fountain and bottled beverages with added sugar or sweeteners, such as soft drinks, sports and energy drinks, and fruit juices that are not 100-percent fruit.
Hundreds of people showed up to protest the proposed soda tax at a hearing by the County Board’s finance committee, said WLS-TV in Chicago. The American Beverage Association “already is running ads against the proposed tax on sugary drinks,” said the broadcaster. The Illinois Beverage Association says the tax could affect 90,000 jobs in restaurants, convenience stores and movie theaters. Public opposition sank suggestions last fall for a 1-cent soda tax in Chicago.
The first city to adopt a soda tax, in 2014, was Berkeley, CA. Residents of two low-income neighborhoods in the city said they cut their consumption of sugary beverages by more than one-fifth after the tax took effect, Reuters reported, citing a study in the American Journal of Public Health. “From a public-health perspective, that is a huge impact,” said Dr. Kristine Madsen, senior author of the study, in a telephone interview.
Three Bay area cities — San Francisco, Oakland and Albany — and Boulder, CO, have soda-tax referendums on their ballots Nov. 8. A simple majority is required for passage. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, of New York, donated $200,000 to the Boulder group campaigning for the tax, said the Daily Camera newspaper. “This is Boulder’s most expensive campaign ever,” said the newspaper with at least $1.5 million in spending by both sides. Spending on the Bay area referendums is running far above $10 million.
For more on the issue of soda taxes, check out FERN’s latest story, published with PRI’s The World, and this accompanying infographic.