In a first-round vote, the Philadelphia City Council voted for a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks and diet sodas. Council members must approve the levy for a second time next Thursday to become the second city in the country with a soda tax, “but it appears they have reached the final deal,” said Philadelphia Magazine.
Unlike Berkeley, CA, where voters approved a 1-cent soda tax in a 2014 referendum dominated by a debate over the health impact of sugar-sweetened beverages, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney framed the tax as a way to expand pre-school and overhaul parks, libraries and recreation centers.
Kenney’s approach was novel, said the New York Times. Instead of “a nanny-state measure” targeted at obesity, the mayor “presented it as an untapped source of revenue that could be used to pay for popular initiatives.” Soda-tax advocate Kelly Brownell, dean of public policy at Duke University, told the Times, “Philadelphia has now created an entirely new level of momentum.”
The 1.5-cent tax rate is half of what Kenney proposed for full-calorie beverages. By including diet sodas, the council kept the projected revenue, around $91 million, close to the volume that the 3-cent soda levy would have raised. During the council meeting on Wednesday, the city’s finance director said some of the money would go into the city’s fund balance.
The soda industry spent nearly $3 million on advertising against the tax, said Philadelphia Magazine, and the industry-funded No Philly Grocery Tax Coalition said its polling showed growing opposition to the proposal. Soda taxes were proposed twice before and defeated in Philadelphia.
Soda-tax referendums are expected this fall in San Francisco and Oakland, CA. Efforts are underway for a November vote in Boulder, CO, too.