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Councilman Frank DiCicco in Council Thursday afternoon said the "soda industry" has offered to pay the city $10 million over two years if officials backed off on a proposal to tax sweetened beverages by the ounce.
Mayor Nutter originally proposed a steep, 2-cents-per-ounce tax on all sweetened beverages -- a hefty $1.28 on a 64-oz. bottle of Pepsi -- as a way to help close a $130 million gap in the proposed $3.9 billion budget. He is right now trying to convince Council members to swallow a tax of 1/2 or 3/4 or a cent per ounce as the mayor and Council try to nail down the 2010-2011 budget today.
Beverage companies have proposed channeling money through the Pew Charitable Trusts to fund programs, from education to recreation, that would promote health and combat obesity, said Edward J. Hazzouri, local lobbyist for the American Beverage Association. Nutter had hoped to raise $77 million annually through the 2-cent sweet drinks tax, with $20 million annually going to promote public health.
As of 1:53 p.m., Council was holding a public hearing on the revenue measures, with the intention of passing the bills out today to make a final vote possible next Thursday. But Council and Nutter have not yet agreed on what those bills will look like. Negotiations are expected to continue throughout the day and possibly into the night.
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A drop in the bucket, from their perspective.— mattesq- Tax the Church. Problem solved.— TKone
- Why don't we cut spending instead?— Echo
- Uh, no. Time for people to wake up. As was reported all over yesterday, the effective tax rate paid by americans is the lowest in 60 years, 9.2% as opposed to the average 12% and far below the 15% high (percentage of income). This includes ALL taxes - sales, income, property, etc. Uneducated and gullible americans have swallowed, hook line and sinker, the corporate crying game of "too much" taxes. It has allowed corporations to plunder the wealth of the country and has caused americans to adopt the "I WANT EVERYTHING AND DON"T WANT TO PAY FOR IT" mentality. And people wonder why roads can't get fixed, our infrastructure is collapsing, and our schools are falling apart....Fact is, americans are not paying more in taxes than ever - they are simply greedier than ever.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
- We're better off with a property tax increase (which we can deduct from federal income taxes) rather than a regressive and complicated beverage tax. The beverage tax will send consumers across the bridge to buy soft drinks. Simply put, it just creates problems for Phildelphia when local tax policies are not uniform with neighboring jurisdictions. Mayor Nutter is trying hard with difficult circumstances, but should read "Freakonomics" to understand the law of unintended consequences.— NickEeee
Comment removed.- Cicero are you kidding me ? Really ? We are not taxed enough, that is why roads catn be fixed ? We get taxed at least 10% federal, something like 4% city, and 3%ish by the state alone. that is not counting medicare, unemployment and sales taxes. Roads aren't being fixed because of the politics of government. How long has the bridge at university city been down, at least two years now with another year at least. Did you see the work on the bridge on henry ave. that has been going on for at least one year, and all they are doing is fixing the curb/sidewalk. You need to wake up dude. Government is wasting our money. And by the way when ever the city's and state's complain about needing to cut spending they go right to Police, Fireman and Teacher. There aren't any non-essential areas they can cut from ? Of course not, because that is how they get citizens to accept the increases in taxes.— Thurston Howell III
- thurston: You have been lied to but your ignorance is typical of Americans. You dont have proof of squat but you speak as if you are an authority. The simple fact is Americans dont want to know the real costs of the services they demand and the government does as much as possible to lie to them about those costs. YOu are so ignorant you dont even realize that the PRIVATE SECTOR does road/bridge construction work. The cost of the project and the pace of the project comes from the PRIVATE SECTOR. Those are not state workers rehabbing the bridge and if you did any research you would know they are doing more than "replacing sidewalks". Perhaps you shouldnt comment further until you actually get a grip on the facts. Roads and bridges are crumbling because this state (and many others) refuses to charge residents what it would really cost to maintain our infrastructure. The south street bridge is out for a long time because its a major $60M project. You don't build a new 4-6 lane bridge from scratch in 2 weeks Mr. Howell.— Yakov
- thurston: My guess is that the "effective" tax rate takes into account rebates for federal income taxes. Sure, Americans are taxed at the rates you mention but many of them (especially homeowners) get thousands back so their real tax rate is much lower. Taxes are lower than they have been in the US and lower than the rest of the developed world.— Yakov
- Cut spending. I see so many city workers milking the taxpayers it makes me nuts. Cut 10% of city employees. Oh wait, we can't because we are a union town that prevents progress.— Troy Winston
- Soda tax is dead. Go for the deal if they want to put up 10 milllion— PaulDeon
- so yakov, your telling me those workers are doing more than resufacing the sidewalk/curb ? cause i live there and that is what they did on the other side, which they are now doing the same thing. so why don't you inform me of what is really happening ? And it doesn't take a year to do. Waste is happening, and if it is private workers that are doing it, then gov which pays for these projects is giving the work out to the wrong companies. Guess this is alright for them to keep overpaying the Private Sector right ? So the bridge is a $60 million project, it's ok to take three years to build. Yankee stadium and Cowboy stadium were what around $1 billion to build. They took less than a year. We are taxed plenty and maybe you need to get a grip on the facts instead of just putting out your opion as facts. Sounds like you are a champion for government and unions.— Thurston Howell III
- Comment removed.
- City threatens a tax, private industry pays $10 million to make it go away, isn't that extortion? But then again, the city of Philadelphia is run by a bunch of criminals, opps I mean Democrats.— downthemiddle
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