CEO DATELINE - Beverage association spent $10M fighting Philly soda tax
CEO DATELINE - Beverage association spent $10M fighting Philly soda tax
- August 3, 2016 |
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Walt Williams
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The American Beverage Association spent more than $10 million earlier this year trying to prevent Philadelphia from adopting a tax on sweetened beverages, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.
Disclosure forms filed with the Philadelphia Board of Ethics show the association vastly outspent tax supporters, who spent a combined $2.5 million. The 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax was adopted by Philadelphia City Council in June, making Philly the first major U.S. city to impose a tax on sodas and other sweetened beverages. The tax will go into effect Jan. 1, 2017.
The roughly $10.6 million spent by ABA primarily came from Dr Pepper Snapple Group, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co., the newspaper reported. Coca-Cola also spent an additional $68,000 on its own.
Adoption of the soda tax was a rare defeat for ABA, which has been largely successful in blocking tax proposals in other communities. However, voters in Berkeley, Calif., passed a ballot issue in 2014 creating a tax on sweetened beverages that has so far generated $1.5 million for the city, according to supporters.
ABA has pledged to take legal action to overturn the Philadelphia tax. http://bit.ly/2aNK0Pk
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