A City Council committee could hold a vote on the soda and container tax proposals as soon as Wednesday.
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A council vote is scheduled for Thursday.
The consensus to pass the measure comes after months of protests at City Hall and an intense television ad campaign that drew sharp lines between supporters and foes.
The vote today in Philadelphia is perhaps the most important defeat for Big Soda since the adoption of a nationwide soda tax in Mexico.
Children gather in support of a proposed sugary drink tax in the corridors of City Hall in Philadelphia, Wednesday, June 8, 2016.
“We are disappointed that City Council has chosen to move forward with a discriminatory and regressive tax”, Philadelphians Against the Grocery Tax Coalition, an opposition group funded by the American Beverage Association, said in a statement.
But Mr. Kenney, Philadelphia’s mayor, has steered clear of health arguments, instead pushing the tax as an efficient way to generate revenue for pre-K slots, new schools, libraries, parks and recreation centers. Wednesday’s compromise adds diet soda to the list and slashes Kenney’s initial proposal in half, to 1.5 cents-per-ounce.
“If 90 percent of the brain is developing between 3 and 5 years of age, while I’m sitting here, somebody is turning 5 years old, and we may have missed the critical period”, Philadelphia NAACP chapter president Rodney Muhammad testified at the hearing.
That is less than the levy of 3 cents per ounce on sugar-sweetened drinks proposed by Mayor Jim Kenney, who has said he would use the funds to pay for prekindergarten and other popular services.
Councilwoman Cindy Bass said on Tuesday that her office is working on a bill that would raise the property tax rate in Philadelphia, as City Council continues to weigh alternatives to Mayor Jim Kenney’s proposed soda tax.
However, even City Council’s vote does not guarantee the tax will take effect. Such taxes can only be passed by state officials. Philadelphia City Council is set to consider a sugary drink tax that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney proposed to pay for universal prekindergarten, community schools and park improvements. “Let’s get the city’s budgeting in order before we resort to increasing taxes”. Berkeley, California, is the only USA city to approve such a tax.
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