The Philadelphia Soft drinks tax, a disaster, a Limerick.

The City of Philadelphia has levied an 1.5 cents per ounce of soft drinks.

So, if you buy one gallon of sweetened ice tea for 1.72 (on special) you end up paying 1.92 in tax, for a total of of 3.64, a 112 percent tax.

The soda tax levied in Philly

all soft drinks are taxed willy nilly.

Aspartame is taxed too

sugar drinks, shame on you.

The tax that lacks facts, Philly silly.

Nearly one third of Philadelphians  receive food stamps (SNAP).

According to a new study released by the Food and Nutrition Service, the federal agency responsible for running the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), soft drinks are the #1 expenditure for people on food stamps (# 2 for the general population).

Great job, Philadelphia! Tax the people on food stamps! It would have been better to make soft drinks not eligible for food stamps!  (They would have to settle for 70% or more non carbonated fruit juices!)

So, what was the result of the beverage tax!

Wonders never cease. People stopped buying their soda in the city (and almost undoubtedly a lot of other shopping list items) and decided to shop where prices were lower. The study they reference also goes on to note that there was no corresponding increase in sales of bottled water or healthier beverage options. And as for the revenue question? They don’t even delve into that, but you can do the math easily enough. The tax on soda increased by 17%, but the sales fell by 51%. The only people left paying the soda tax were those without transportation alternatives, such as people on SNAP. The rest took the more economic option, shop elsewhere.

The results were devastating. Many ShopRite stores closed within Philadelphia boundaries, and many mom and pop stores finally gave up, leaving the most needy with even fewer shopping alternatives.

The Democrats solution to this problem would normally be to launch an all out effort to tax all soft drinks nationwide equally, but instead Philadelphia may throw in the towel and give up with the damage to the city’s economy already done.