Wawa Joins Soda Oppostion
Get inside the halls of Philadelphia power with PhillyClout: Inside City Hall, the blog by the Philadelphia Daily News' city hall reporters.
Wawa Joins Soda Oppostion
Catherine Lucey
Wawa has joined the forces lobbying against the soda tax proposal in City Council.
Council members today were faxed a letter from Wawa's chief marketing officer, which stated that the regional chain of convenience stores was opposed to Mayor Nutter's proposal for a 2 cent per ounce soda tax to raise funds for the school district.
"We are not in favor of additional taxes that may force our customers to shop at stores outside of Philadelphia or limit their choices," said the letter.
Nutter has proposed a soda tax or a property tax increase as ways to provide more money to the district, which faces a $629 million funding gap in the next fiscal year. So far Council does not seem to have signed on to either plan.
- The 'sugar' that is in soda is high-fructose corn syrup. Why is Mayor Nutter so focused on singling out 'soda' when almost EVERY sweetened drink on the market is a high-fructose corn syrup sweetened drink? It appears that Mayor Nutter is discriminating against soda and giving the other soft-drink producers a free ride. Or is it that Mayor Nutter doesn't want to push his 'gouging the Philly consumer' into overkill?
It is called the soda tax but it is all 'sugared' drinks. I have no problem with it. It is not a food item. When are people going to get that? scargosun



Follow Chris on Twitter