Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley, Calif, says the city referendum on a 1-cent soda tax “will definitely be a turning point” in the drive to reduce obesity by making sugary drinks more expensive, say the New York Times. “If it can’t pass in Berkeley, where is it going to pass?” The soda industry has spent 10 times as much to defeat the proposal as proponents have raised for it. A spokesman for the beverage industry said, “Berkeley is a lot tougher” than the proposed 2-cent soda tax in San Francisco. The Berkeley proposal needs a simply majority to pass; San Francisco needs a two-thirds majority.
Opponents of the San Francisco tax have donated $7.7 million to defeat it, compared to $1.4 million in Berkeley. “The industry’s heavy expenditure in San Francisco reflects the calculation that a victory in Berkeley alone would have limited political repercussions, given the nature of this city’s politics,” says the Times. Berkeley is not a national trend-setter, said the soda industry spokesman, who told the Times, “We feel pretty confident we can beat it in San Francisco.”
The Times says the Berkeley and San Francisco proposals would tax most soda and sugar-sweetened drinks, including sports drinks, ice tea, juice drinks and energy drinks. “They would generally not apply to fruit or vegetable juice, infant formula, milk or nutritional supplements. Nor would they apply to diet drinks,” it said.