Why Philly’s Soda Tax Scandal Could Haunt Michael Bloomberg

Over the past year, the city of Philadelphia has been embroiled in one of the most significant corruption scandals in recent memory. Powerful local union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty will go to trial this year after a 116-count federal indictment alleging, among other offenses, that he “had city inspectors hold up the non-union installation of an MRI machine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,” used local funds as his “personal bank account” and, in a strange plot twist from the typical corruption cases, “pushed the passage of the city’s soda tax solely to exact revenge on the rival Teamster’s Union.”

Seattle’s Soda Tax Takes Effect — With Predictably Bad Results

Seattle’s newly implemented tax on sugary beverages has been making headlines around the country this week — and not for reasons its proponents had hoped. This was to be expected. Unlike the Santa Fe, N.M., which allowed its liberal constituency to vote on its proposed sugar tax and was soundly rejected at the ballot box, Seattle opted to force this tax on its residents without giving them any say. The Seattle City Council (which is made up of eight registered Democrats and one registered socialist) passed the tax by a 7-1 vote back in June. And now that the soda

Seattle Liberals Show Concern for Working Families — By Raising Their Taxes

Seattle will become the 8th city in the United States to tax sugary beverages, after a 7-1 city council vote yesterday. Since soda consumption has become the “crisis du jour” for liberals looking for an excuse to raise taxes, it is imperative to scrutinize the claims made by soda tax proponents before more cities fall like dominoes for this regressive scheme. As noted during the Seattle soda tax debate, city officials “repeatedly acknowledged that this tax targets low-income and minority communities by pricing hundreds of different beverages out of their reach. As a result, those who can afford this tax

“Soda Taxes” Are Just Liberals’ Latest Big Government Scheme

Years after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg put soda in the nation’s crosshairs with a proposed ban on large beverages, soft drinks are once again being targeted by nanny-state politicians looking for an excuse to raise your taxes. But this time, their efforts are even more absurd. Ronald Reagan famously said, “Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government always finds a need for the money it gets.” One is truly hard pressed to find a more perfect illustration of this than politicians begging for higher taxes on soda. Politicians, such as Santa Fe, N.M.,