Soda tax back on the table
Jason Fink // AM New York (Urbanite Blog)March 7, 2010
The fat tax is back.
A year after Gov. David Paterson abandoned his controversial proposal to tax soft drinks, the plan is enjoying a second wind, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsing it Sunday as a way to raise money and save lives.
But bodega owners say the tax would kill their businesses, support in Albany is far from assured and New Yorkers chaffed at the idea of yet another tax.
The tax will receive a fresh jolt Monday, as Paterson hosts a forum with the city and state health commissioners to advocate for the plan, which is part of Paterson's budget proposal.
"In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by," Bloomberg said in his weekly radio address. "But the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives, it would cut rising health care costs."
The plan would tax soft drinks, flavored waters, iced teas and other sugary drinks at a penny an ounce, but leave out diet drinks.
Proponents said it would raise nearly $1 billion over the next year, help cut obesity rates and provide money for health care.
A group called the Alliance for a Healthier New York, which has been running ads pushing for the tax, compared it to taxes on alcohol and tobacco and said it would lead to "an increase in the consumption of healthier beverages."
But the idea is sure to face resistance both in and out of Albany.
"It's going to kill small local businesses, especially since we're in a recession," said Mike Jones, who works at a bodega in Prospect Heights.
A research analyst for the food industry backed Center for Consumer Freedom attacked the plan as a revenue generator disguised as public health.
"The tax system should not be used as a toll for social engineering," said the analyst, J. Justin Wilson. "This has a lot to do with raising revenue and very little to do with reducing people's weight."
Republicans in both houses of the Legislature remain uniformly opposed to the plan and a spokesman for Sen. John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), the Democratic leader, would say only that the tax is "among the many proposals being considered by our conference."
Assemb. Jonathan Bing (D-Manhattan), a member of the health committee, criticized the proposal as "regressive," meaning poor people will be hit disproportionately.
Still, with the state facing a $9 billion deficit, Bing said legislators face "difficult decisions" and should not rule anything out.
Jean Mocombe, 38, of Prospect Heights, said the idea sounds like a slippery slope.
"If we continue to tax every single little thing that's bad for you, where does it stop?" he said.
Nick Klopsis contributed to this story
Richard Berman has been a regular front man for business and industry in campaigns against consumer safety and environmental groups. Through his public affairs firm, Berman and Company, Berman has fought unions, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, PETA and other watchdog groups in their efforts to raise awareness about obesity, the minimum wage, the dangers of smoking, mad cow disease, drunk driving, and other causes. Berman runs at least 15 industry-funded front groups and projects, such as the Center for Union Facts and holds 16 "positions" in those organizations.
Each year, Berman, using his front groups to spread misinformation, spends millions of dollars distracting the public with misleading ads.
As a result of his largesse, in 2006, Richard Berman used $2,000,000 in cash to buy this $3.3 million house.
