Have you heard about the beverage tax that Philadelphia has now? I saw it on the news recently and all I thought was “Oh my goodness!” For those of you who don’t know it is a new tax in effect that adds a penny and a half per ounce charge on sodas, diet sodas, juices, and other sweetened beverages for distributors. What that means is the guy who sells the grocery store the sodas get taxed extra so he raises the price the grocery store pays which means the consumers price goes up as well.
Now this might now seem like that big of a deal but when you think about it those price hikes can be a big deal. Especially for someone already on a fixed income. The mayor of Philly says that the distributors are not required to pass the tax on to dealers but come on they are. If one was super smart, he wouldn’t pass it on keeping the consumer end prices down and making their product more attractive. That price doesn’t seem like much but a 8 pack of Gatorade which was $5.99 is now $8.39 then add in sales tax and it is $9.06. That seems outrageous to me.
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The reason behind the tax is the fact that America’s youth is overweight and this is a way to help that. I agree that we need to watch what I children eat and drink but making the processed food or sugary drinks more expensive does no good if the ones that are healthy for them don’t come down in prices. We buy a lot of those unhealthy items because the healthy ones are too expensive. Walk through a produce department and look at the prices. I can’t afford those prices so I buy at the local farmer’s market or I buy frozen. I shop for the whole month when I go to the grocery store. Now we do drink sodas, which honestly are the adults in the house mostly. However, I spend currently $40 a month in sodas. I buy them a month at a time and if we run out…..too bad. No sodas! $40 seems like a lot but remember I have a larger household size than most with seven people.
Milk is exempt from that tax but here it is almost $5 a gallon and we already buy eight to ten gallons a month. The kids love milk here and will choose it over other choices most of the time. All I can say is that I am so glad I don’t live in Philly right now. I would have to go out of town to my shopping because I could not pay like $9 per twelve pack of soda.
Share Your Thoughts
What are thoughts on the beverage tax? Are you for or against it? Please remember to be nice and respect others opinions when replying to their comments.
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That is outrageous! I wouldn’t like it at all. I understand the point but seriously? That is way too much!
They say the tax will go to pay things like Pre-K which is good but when people are already on fixed income.
I agree Rita.. i don’t really seeing this benefit anyone honestly though but whoever is running the show. I know we couldn’t afford that.
I am so against raising the price on sugared drinks. I drink soda and orange juice and I could not afford them if this tax is passed in my city. Sounds like some legislators don’t have enough to do in Philadelphia.
Orange juice while not the best beverage for you isn’t the worst. As a diabetic we keep orange juice in the house because it will bring my blood sugar up quickly. To me the reason by the tax doesn’t seem justified. Yes it may help some but I think most will simply go out of town or order those beverages online. I understand waiting healthy children but as I said if they don’t make the healthy stuff much more affordable then they have just wasted their time.
It seems like they’re shutting the barn doors after the horse has already escaped, to use a euphemism. I think NYC was also considering this tax as well. Milk shouldn’t cost that much! Ever! As for sweetened beverages – I don’t think this will stop or prevent kids from drinking them, rendering the tax useless. There seem to be so many factors that contribute to this issue of overweight children in our country.
I agree. Kids are going to come in contact with sugary drinks at some point and honestly while that contributes to their weight gain there are other factors. Remember growing up and being told to go outside and play? how many kids actually do that anymore or are they inside with the electronics? Milk is fairly expensive here which is just crazy to me.
I have mixed feelings about this. I for one would cut out the soda and other drinks. We mostly drink water and milk with occasional soda so it wouldn’t be a huge hardship. And If it encourages at least a few people to change their habits then it could be of benefit.
I’m curious to see in a year how many people actually cut out drinking those drinks or they just go to other locations outside the city to buy them. While it may benefit a few the grocers may end up losing business because of it.
So I don’t see this helping families make better choices. Some families may still buy these type of drinks and skimp on other items that may be healthy like milk or fruits. We don’t drink a lot of soda in our house but do some of the lighter gatorade occasionally. My kids both run cross country so that’s 4-5 miles of running practice 6 days a week for my son. A soda or a gatorade isn’t that detrimental.
This is absurd. They are taxing people to force them to eat healthy? Then lower the prices of fruits, veggies and organic meats. You can’t (or shouldn’t) be legislating personal choices.