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Cook County proposed penny-an-ounce tax on sweetened drinks

Cook County proposed penny-an-ounce tax on sweetened drinks
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  • Post #31 - October 6th, 2017, 10:49 pm
    Post #31 - October 6th, 2017, 10:49 pm Post #31 - October 6th, 2017, 10:49 pm
    It will be repealed. But the repeal date will not be effective until 12-1-17.

    And then we have to figure out what will the next method be to shore up revenue that will not come back to Cook over this. Folks have gotten used to shopping outside and I doubt they will come back.
    Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

    Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening
  • Post #32 - October 7th, 2017, 6:26 am
    Post #32 - October 7th, 2017, 6:26 am Post #32 - October 7th, 2017, 6:26 am
    pairs4life wrote:It will be repealed. But the repeal date will not be effective until 12-1-17.

    And then we have to figure out what will the next method be to shore up revenue that will not come back to Cook over this. Folks have gotten used to shopping outside and I doubt they will come back.

    I was a critic of the soda tax from the get-go based on how regressive it was - basically a way of getting those with less means to pay for a greater portion of essential services they depend on. From the policy perspective though, the social benefits of decreasing sugary beverage consumption are a worthwhile investment that should ultimately yield dividends down the road.

    The problem with the tax, hardly a first in Illinois politics, was the way it was implemented due to procedural rules. This type of sin tax works in other jurisdictions, but it has to be imposed at the point of distribution - not sale. Even looking past the heightened effect on consumer perception and decision-making, point of sale taxation is inefficient in terms of total labor necessary for administration. The state needed to amend the rule that prevented the tax from being charged at distribution for it to have a chance of success.
  • Post #33 - October 7th, 2017, 8:58 am
    Post #33 - October 7th, 2017, 8:58 am Post #33 - October 7th, 2017, 8:58 am
    I admit I don't have a dog in this fight, as I don't live in Cook County, but if I may: bweiny, I would be more inclined to agree with you and others who make the social policy argument if this were a tax on only high-calorie sugar- and HFCS-sweetened beverages. The fact that it's also a tax on zero-calorie artificially sweetened beverages makes me think it's less about social policy and more about generating revenue via what is essentially a sin tax. In addition, if this tax were really about public health concerns, why not, as polster and, more recently, the Chicago Tribune have pointed out, also apply the tax to candy and other non-artificially sweetened snacks?
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #34 - October 7th, 2017, 11:35 am
    Post #34 - October 7th, 2017, 11:35 am Post #34 - October 7th, 2017, 11:35 am
    Katie wrote:The fact that it's also a tax on zero-calorie artificially sweetened beverages makes me think it's less about social policy and more about generating revenue via what is essentially a sin tax.


    Also the fact that this is Chicago! Long history of instating policies they claim will benefit voters but in reality screw us over to line the city's coffers, with no accountability.
    Logan: Come on, everybody, wang chung tonight! What? Everybody, wang chung tonight! Wang chung, or I'll kick your ass!
  • Post #35 - October 8th, 2017, 9:56 am
    Post #35 - October 8th, 2017, 9:56 am Post #35 - October 8th, 2017, 9:56 am
    The Superfecta of bad tax plans...

    Morrison said revenue from the tax has fallen far short of the Preckwinkle administration’s projections already. The county expected to get about $9 million a month from the tax, but Morrison said only $300,000 was collected in August, which means consumers either weren’t buying soda, or were going to other counties to do so.

    http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/10/06/ ... peal-vote/
  • Post #36 - October 10th, 2017, 2:01 pm
    Post #36 - October 10th, 2017, 2:01 pm Post #36 - October 10th, 2017, 2:01 pm
    What time is the big vote today?

    My issue with this tax is that is doesn't necessarily solve the intended problem. There's no guarantee that making these items more expensive is going to reduce or deter their consumption. We definitely need a lot more education in this area -- especially among the groups this tax claims to protect -- but I don't believe for a minute that this tax is/was going to accomplish that.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #37 - October 10th, 2017, 2:12 pm
    Post #37 - October 10th, 2017, 2:12 pm Post #37 - October 10th, 2017, 2:12 pm
    ronnie_suburban wrote:My issue with this tax is that is doesn't necessarily solve the intended problem. There's no guarantee that making these items more expensive is going to reduce or deter their consumption.

    This is particularly true because those on lower incomes are at the highest risk of diabetes and other nutrition-oriented health risks (because empty calories are cheaper than fruit, milk, etc), and SNAP recipients do not pay any sales tax -- so you're not helping their health at all.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #38 - October 10th, 2017, 4:27 pm
    Post #38 - October 10th, 2017, 4:27 pm Post #38 - October 10th, 2017, 4:27 pm
    ronnie_suburban wrote:What time is the big vote today?

    My issue with this tax is that is doesn't necessarily solve the intended problem. There's no guarantee that making these items more expensive is going to reduce or deter their consumption. We definitely need a lot more education in this area -- especially among the groups this tax claims to protect -- but I don't believe for a minute that this tax is/was going to accomplish that.

    =R=

    Well, sin taxes aren't ever really about education by taxation. They're about revenue generation by exploitation of inelastic demand.

    But again, the feeble premise that this tax was ever about education by taxation would be more credible if it were a tax on high-calorie sugar- and HFCS-sweetened drinks, not zero-calorie artificially sweetened drinks.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #39 - October 10th, 2017, 4:38 pm
    Post #39 - October 10th, 2017, 4:38 pm Post #39 - October 10th, 2017, 4:38 pm
    JoelF wrote:
    ronnie_suburban wrote:My issue with this tax is that is doesn't necessarily solve the intended problem. There's no guarantee that making these items more expensive is going to reduce or deter their consumption.

    This is particularly true because those on lower incomes are at the highest risk of diabetes and other nutrition-oriented health risks (because empty calories are cheaper than fruit, milk, etc), and SNAP recipients do not pay any sales tax -- so you're not helping their health at all.

    Then there are the folks at the low income level that make just enough to not qualify for SNAP benefits. I could easily see them forgoing a head of lettuce or a stalk of broccoli in favor of a 2 liter bottle of soda because their grocery budget won't allow for the purchase of both items due to the soda tax.
  • Post #40 - October 10th, 2017, 5:23 pm
    Post #40 - October 10th, 2017, 5:23 pm Post #40 - October 10th, 2017, 5:23 pm
    The soda tax is a double bladed sword for vendors, who must pay the tax when purchasing the product wholesale and recollect it when selling it at retail prices to the public.

    CSD
    Mark A Reitman, PhD
    Professor of Hot Dogs
    Hot Dog University/Vienna Beef
  • Post #41 - October 10th, 2017, 5:40 pm
    Post #41 - October 10th, 2017, 5:40 pm Post #41 - October 10th, 2017, 5:40 pm
    According to the Trib, a test vote today went 15-1 in favor of a repeal, which indicates that even a potential veto would likely be overridden.

    chicagotribune.com wrote:The Cook County soda pop tax is one step away from repeal after commissioners on Tuesday favored doing away with the controversial tax in a key test vote.

    The County Board Finance Committee voted 15-1 for a measure that would do away with the penny-an-ounce tax on sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages, with final action expected at Wednesday’s board meeting.

    Cook County pop tax one step away from repeal after 15-1 test vote

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #42 - October 11th, 2017, 12:47 pm
    Post #42 - October 11th, 2017, 12:47 pm Post #42 - October 11th, 2017, 12:47 pm
    Cook County Board repeals pop tax

    chicagotribune.com wrote:The Cook County Board finished the job on Wednesday and repealed the controversial pop tax, which means soda drinkers won’t have to pay it come Dec. 1.

    The repeal was a foregone conclusion after the board’s Finance Committee voted 15-1 on Tuesday, signaling the pop tax would be scrapped after just four months.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #43 - October 11th, 2017, 1:15 pm
    Post #43 - October 11th, 2017, 1:15 pm Post #43 - October 11th, 2017, 1:15 pm
    ronnie_suburban wrote:Cook County Board repeals pop tax

    chicagotribune.com wrote:The Cook County Board finished the job on Wednesday and repealed the controversial pop tax, which means soda drinkers won’t have to pay it come Dec. 1.

    The repeal was a foregone conclusion after the board’s Finance Committee voted 15-1 on Tuesday, signaling the pop tax would be scrapped after just four months.

    =R=

    I'm curious to know what Taxwinkle is going to do with the tax money that's already been collected.
    Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
  • Post #44 - October 12th, 2017, 8:09 am
    Post #44 - October 12th, 2017, 8:09 am Post #44 - October 12th, 2017, 8:09 am
    Katie wrote:I would be more inclined to agree with you and others who make the social policy argument if this were a tax on only high-calorie sugar- and HFCS-sweetened beverages. The fact that it's also a tax on zero-calorie artificially sweetened beverages makes me think it's less about social policy and more about generating revenue via what is essentially a sin tax. In addition, if this tax were really about public health concerns, why not, as polster and, more recently, the Chicago Tribune have pointed out, also apply the tax to candy and other non-artificially sweetened snacks?

    Like you, I was more in favor of the tax when I thought it was a sin tax. (I see nothing wrong with tax policy in the service of public health goals.) If there had been any consistency in the law, it might have gathered more consensus in favor of keeping it. I don't deny there were strong constituencies against the tax, but these constituencies were more likely to succeed in the absence of any compelling argument to save it, and the illogic in the law itself deprived it of that argument.
    Pithy quote here.
  • Post #45 - October 31st, 2017, 3:21 pm
    Post #45 - October 31st, 2017, 3:21 pm Post #45 - October 31st, 2017, 3:21 pm
    I spotted a 12 pack of my beloved Coke Zero (RIP), caffeine-free no less.

    I did not have a car. I did the math on the tax once in my head and paid the more exorbitant price for 1-12 pack versus 4 because I couldn’t carry that many. The price was almost 50% less if you purchased multiples of 4. I secured the 12 pack to the cargo basket on a Divvy and biked it home. Dropped off packages. Returned Divvy.
    Last edited by pairs4life on October 31st, 2017, 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
    Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

    Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening
  • Post #46 - October 31st, 2017, 6:17 pm
    Post #46 - October 31st, 2017, 6:17 pm Post #46 - October 31st, 2017, 6:17 pm
    pairs4life wrote:beloved Coke Zero . . .

    Why, why, why? Did they learn nothing from the Coke 2 debacle? I don't drink soda but I feel bad for all the folks who are getting hosed by the marketing 'geniuses' in Atlanta.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #47 - October 31st, 2017, 8:24 pm
    Post #47 - October 31st, 2017, 8:24 pm Post #47 - October 31st, 2017, 8:24 pm
    Why RIP re Coke Zero? I am a fan too. I prefer the with-caffeine variety but sometimes buy the without-caffeine variety. If you like, I will pick up a pack of cans of either for you this week, pairs; I noticed they're on sale at my local... Jewel, I think.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #48 - October 31st, 2017, 9:00 pm
    Post #48 - October 31st, 2017, 9:00 pm Post #48 - October 31st, 2017, 9:00 pm
    ronnie_suburban wrote:
    pairs4life wrote:beloved Coke Zero . . .

    Why, why, why? Did they learn nothing from the Coke 2 debacle? I don't drink soda but I feel bad for all the folks who are getting hosed by the marketing 'geniuses' in Atlanta.

    =R=


    This is their New Coke/Coke II for certain. On their FB/social media page the comments were literally like 200 against the change to 1 person liking the new formulation. Additionally, everyone who liked the new formulation was a Diet Coke drinker. They learned nothing. Coke Zero was the 1st diet I ever drank. If you offer me a Diet Coke I literally look at you as if you are offering arsenic.

    I won’t drink diet pepsi either. I will drink diet A & W and of course the Barritt’s & Gosling’s diet ginger beers.
    Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

    Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening
  • Post #49 - October 31st, 2017, 9:03 pm
    Post #49 - October 31st, 2017, 9:03 pm Post #49 - October 31st, 2017, 9:03 pm
    Katie wrote:Why RIP re Coke Zero? I am a fan too. I prefer the with-caffeine variety but sometimes buy the without-caffeine variety. If you like, I will pick up a pack of cans of either for you this week, pairs; I noticed they're on sale at my local... Jewel, I think.


    They killed Coke Zero. They have some re-formulated New Coke/ Coke II thing called Coke Zero sugar. It isn’t the same. It is not better.

    There’s plenty here. Thanks for the offer. I just couldn’t carry it foday is all and my point was the tax didn’t slow me down a bit.
    Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

    Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening
  • Post #50 - November 1st, 2017, 7:13 am
    Post #50 - November 1st, 2017, 7:13 am Post #50 - November 1st, 2017, 7:13 am
    pairs4life wrote:I won’t drink diet pepsi either. I will drink diet A & W and of course the Barritt’s & Gosling’s diet ginger beers.


    My Dr. Pepper obsessed friend speaks quite highly of the diet Dr. Pepper concoction, FWIW.
    Steve Z.

    “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
    ― Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Post #51 - November 1st, 2017, 7:44 am
    Post #51 - November 1st, 2017, 7:44 am Post #51 - November 1st, 2017, 7:44 am
    Giving up soda is probably the best decision I've made as an adult to date.
  • Post #52 - November 1st, 2017, 8:14 am
    Post #52 - November 1st, 2017, 8:14 am Post #52 - November 1st, 2017, 8:14 am
    AlekH wrote:Giving up soda is probably the best decision I've made as an adult to date.


    Interesting. Do tell why.

    I love bubbles so nope on this end.
    Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

    Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening
  • Post #53 - November 1st, 2017, 8:21 am
    Post #53 - November 1st, 2017, 8:21 am Post #53 - November 1st, 2017, 8:21 am
    AlekH wrote:Giving up soda is probably the best decision I've made as an adult to date.


    What nice drinks other than soda could accompany restaurant made shashlyk, pelmeni and chebureki?
    How about homemade cranberry compote with very little sugar. Or the same compote mixed with carbonated water.
  • Post #54 - November 1st, 2017, 9:57 am
    Post #54 - November 1st, 2017, 9:57 am Post #54 - November 1st, 2017, 9:57 am
    pairs4life wrote:
    AlekH wrote:Giving up soda is probably the best decision I've made as an adult to date.


    Interesting. Do tell why.

    I love bubbles so nope on this end.


    I have greatly reduced my pop/soda intake as I am primarily drinking bubble waters. Mostly Aldi's PurAqua Belle Vie sparkling water, $3.00/12 pack, though I will buy any seltzers I see on sale. I experimented with carbonating my own 1 or 2 liters bottles but too much hassle for not enough bubble.

    Oh, and yes Taxwinkle, I am shopping more in NWI and more and more thinking of moving there thanks to the rest of the incompetent politicians at municipal, township, county and state levels.
  • Post #55 - November 1st, 2017, 11:13 am
    Post #55 - November 1st, 2017, 11:13 am Post #55 - November 1st, 2017, 11:13 am
    I generally have less than a 12 oz can a day. I finished a 12 oz can from Monday today.

    Bottled water creates different issues for me that are conservation related.

    Cheers!
    Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

    Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening
  • Post #56 - November 1st, 2017, 11:13 am
    Post #56 - November 1st, 2017, 11:13 am Post #56 - November 1st, 2017, 11:13 am
    stevez wrote:My Dr. Pepper obsessed friend speaks quite highly of the diet Dr. Pepper concoction, FWIW.

    Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper....Forever!
  • Post #57 - November 1st, 2017, 8:43 pm
    Post #57 - November 1st, 2017, 8:43 pm Post #57 - November 1st, 2017, 8:43 pm
    I've always been a Diet Coke guy. Took me awhile, but once I got used to it, loved the dry taste and can't do the Coke Zero or full sugar Coke thing anymore. I'm curious about the new Coke Zero Sugar if us Diet Coke lovers seem to like it.
  • Post #58 - November 2nd, 2017, 2:06 pm
    Post #58 - November 2nd, 2017, 2:06 pm Post #58 - November 2nd, 2017, 2:06 pm
    pairs4life wrote:
    Katie wrote:Why RIP re Coke Zero?

    They killed Coke Zero. They have some re-formulated New Coke/ Coke II thing called Coke Zero sugar. It isn’t the same. It is not better.

    Ah, thanks for the explanation. I didn't know what was behind the name change.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"

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