Big Brother and the Sugar Pop Tax

[Parkview_Pirate]

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2017/01/03/ignorant-masses-shocked-by-philly-soda-tax-impact/

Philadelphia rang in the new year with a controversial new beverage tax on soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks. The tax, which went into effect on Sunday, is the first one of its kind in a major city in the United States.

While the tax is technically 1.5 cents per ounce, which doesn’t sound too terrible, when buying a 10-pack of 20 oz bottles those numbers climb pretty quickly. In this case, a 10-pack of Propel flavored water that originally retailed for $5.99 had an additional three dollars tacked on to it in taxes.

Apparently soda pop and flavored waters are luxury items, and not for the serfs. One of many desperate measures to increase tax "revenue" (under the guise of bettering your health) by .govs which are inept and out of control....

[Inner Dirt]

The tax even covers zero calorie artificially sweetened drinks. So if I bought my 89 cent liter of Food Lion peach sparkling water it would cost $1.40. A 12 pack of the same store brand diet soda that cost $2.89 would go up to $5.05.
My weekly beverage purchases would cost me an extra $7.25. No where in Philadelphia you can't drive 5 miles or less and get out of the city, a lot of residents are just going to drive a little further to grocery shop. It might not hurt the convenience stores where people pick up a coffee or energy drink on the way to work, but the large grocery stores are going lose a lot of business.

[johnhannibalsmith]

These are the sort of sordid stories I like to point at when people just can't understand why I fall in with that ignorant 'small government' mantra that seems at odds with mostly liberal social outlook. You just have to keep smacking at that hand or it just never stops grabbing for more and more until it is terminal.

[Valuist]

And the voters out here blindly went along with it :confused: I guess one shouldn't expect any more from the California voters. I heard it also passed in Illinois.

[Tom]

Let's eliminate ALL pay and bennies for ALL elected official and then we would need to worry about taxes.

These slimeballs should pay rent for their chairs and pay parking.

[Tom]

These are the sort of sordid stories I like to point at when people just can't understand why I fall in with that ignorant 'small government' mantra that seems at odds with mostly liberal social outlook. You just have to keep smacking at that hand or it just never stops grabbing for more and more until it is terminal.\

Forget the hand - give them a good kick to the balls.
Oh, wait, elected official have no balls.

[Inner Dirt]

What I don't understand is how do taxes and government fees continue to rise and rise and rise, yet the government services in those areas go down and down and down? The best example is California. I lived there 50 years and watched taxes and fees go through the roof while most of Southern California turned into looking like a 3rd world country.

[Tom]

Fraud. The government-types are syphoning off the taxes, either by directly stealing or by funneling to accomplices who give them kickbacks.
I would guess at least 90% of all taxes are somehow stolen by the low-life bottom feeders we elect.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Sounds like a real opportunity for a black marketeer. Any enterprising entrepreneurs out there?

Story I'm expecting to see: The tax is on distributors, not a sales tax, so any store that bought its inventory/stock before January 1 didn't have to pay the tax. Some reporter will find a supermarket/convenience store that had inventory pre-January 1 that they collected the tax on and make a huge deal about it because that's what local news does.

The most liberal city in the country, NY, shot down Bloomberg's sugary beverages tax, so Philadelphia may wind up alone on this.

For the record, it's a bad idea with only a small chance of still being on the books in a year. Other than impulse buys, anyone with a serious Coke (or Pepsi) habit will find a tax free source and buy in bulk. Ironically, the people most likely to benefit from the tax also seem most likely to be the ones buying soda in Philadelphia. Perhaps poetic justice. The people with cars and a habit will head across the river to Jersey. Hopefully they won't get confused when the thirsty Philadelphians ask for Coke.

[davew]

What I don't understand is how do taxes and government fees continue to rise and rise and rise, yet the government services in those areas go down and down and down? The best example is California. I lived there 50 years and watched taxes and fees go through the roof while most of Southern California turned into looking like a 3rd world country.

Unions have pushed for and gotten strong retirement programs. It is now not possible to pay them out without taking more money from the regular operating funds. Just like the housing crash, retirement plan crash is coming soon.

[johnhannibalsmith]

Sounds like a real opportunity for a black marketeer. Any enterprising entrepreneurs out there?

...

This was literally my first thought. If this is Philly then the mob must have been pushing this bill.

[JustRalph]

There's a receipt pic going around where a guy bought a 5.95 bottle of water with some kind of berry flavor added.

Total check was 9.75

[Tom]

We kicked King George's ass over far less than this.

[delayjf]

Just like the housing crash, retirement plan crash is coming soon.

Yet the CA courts have dictated that retirement plans must and will be honored. So, there is no choice but to raise taxes or cut services.

[bugboy]

If I go to my local DD and ask for a coffee with sugar.........is there a sugar tax on that.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

If I go to my local DD and ask for a coffee with sugar.........is there a sugar tax on that.
More importantly, will beer now cost less than a Coke?

[bugboy]

Alright !!!!!bring on more beer :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Inner Dirt]

Sounds like a real opportunity for a black marketeer. Any enterprising entrepreneurs out there?


I am 220 miles away from Philly and with a little math it looks I can hold 420 twelve packs of soda that would have $907 of tax on them in my SUV. Since I have never bulk bought soda from a distributor I have no idea what discount I could get over retail nor do I know what a store would be willing to pay for untaxed goods. If you figure the mileage costing you the standard I.R.S. write off of 54 cents a mile, travel cost me $237.60 a trip and 8 hours a trip with drive time and loading and unloading. If I just split the tax savings on the bootleg goods I clear $26.98 an hour not bad for unreported wagers. Honestly I think someone closer will underbid my wanting half the savings.

[Valuist]

The most liberal city in the country, NY, shot down Bloomberg's sugary beverages tax, so Philadelphia may wind up alone on this.



San Francisco is more liberal than New York.

[RunForTheRoses]

These minimum wage laws will also have unintended consequences

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-salem-minimum-wage-20170102-story.html

[HalvOnHorseracing]

These minimum wage laws will also have unintended consequences

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-salem-minimum-wage-20170102-story.html
Maybe they'll raise the minimum wage in Philly so people can afford to buy soda.

[classhandicapper]

I would have less of a problem with this if they would lower other taxes and make it revenue neutral.

[zico20]

I would have less of a problem with this if they would lower other taxes and make it revenue neutral.

Liberals cannot use the words lower and taxes in the same sentence. ;)

[davew]

This guy says the tax was on wholesalers - and mayor felt it would not affect sale price.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2017/01/12/soda-tax-teaches-philly-mayor-an-economics-lesson-that-trump-needs-to-learn/#7499416d3fb2

[zico20]

This guy says the tax was on wholesalers - and mayor felt it would not affect sale price.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2017/01/12/soda-tax-teaches-philly-mayor-an-economics-lesson-that-trump-needs-to-learn/#7499416d3fb2

The mayor is a moron. He is worried about obesity and sugary drinks? If someone is worried about their weight then they just need to cut back on their food intake after they have a sugary soda. It is not rocket science. :bang:

Taxing a product only makes people more poor, which is what he probably was hoping for all along. He is just covering his ass for reelection.

[ldiatone]

well out here in ca. a new law started. all grocery stores now charge .10 cents per bag. the bags are a nice plastic and now i have 25 or so of them. one can take back the bags and reuse them or those reuable ones, i forget to take and reuse them. and we pay .05 cents for all the plastic bottles. when i bought a case of tea or water or just 1 soda, 5 cents added to the bill per bottle