Posted on 07/31/2017 5:10:57 AM PDT by sleeper-has-awakened
Full Title: A new tax on sugary drinks designed to generate revenue for cash-strapped Cook County will be the third burdensome tax applied to soda prices in Chicago, making a $4 12-pack of soda in the city cost $5.97.
Beginning July 1, residents of Cook County may notice their grocery bills growing as a penny-per-ounce tax on artificially sweetened beverages takes effect.
The new tax will be added on top of Chicago’s highest in the nation sales tax of 10.25 percent and the city’s 3 percent tax on non-alcoholic beverages. With the new sugary beverage tax, soda in Chicago will be some of the most expensive in the nation as a $4 12-pack of soda will cost $5.97, an effective tax rate of nearly 50 percent.
The new tax on sugary beverages will also affect fountain drinks, energy drinks, tea, coffee, diet soda and juices that aren’t 100 percent fruit of vegetable juice.
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association filed a lawsuit against Cook County June 27 in an effort to stop the penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages. Retailers filed to halt the tax, claiming that the tax is unconstitutionally vague and not uniform in what it taxes. A statement released from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association claims that the Sweetened Beverage Tax creates illegal and unsubstantial classifications of beverages, such as differentiating a bottled Frappuccino sold in a convenience store, which would be taxable, from a Frappuccino prepared in a coffee shop, which would not be subject to the tax.
(Excerpt) Read more at illinoispolicy.org ...
If they are so unhealthy, then just ban them. But no, government just wants the money.
It's worse than that. Coffee loaded up with sugar in a cup is not taxed. But coffee in a bottle is taxed.
It's also interesting that unsweet tea will inevitably be caught up in this crap. It's a clue that this has nothing whatsoever to do about sugar or anything but a raw revenue grab by desperate slimy politicians who think all your money is their money.
Well, it’s not for any coffee, just the canned/bottled coffee drinks that are sweetened.
“Soft drinks are not a dietary necessity. In fact, they are bad for your health, so that may be a good thing.”
This country is based on “liberty”, not “necessity”.
And that is also why insurance companies are putting a lot of pressure on employers, and the government, to regulate behavior.
Shared risk, shared costs, means that other people will demand a say in how those costs are handled.
And we did have a major medical event in my family. High risk birth, NICU, the whole nine yards.
My employer was NOT happy with me. So much so, it was a factor in my leaving that job. Besides the ethical question of management “knowing” what my costs were (here is a hint, they will always know), they were upset that my kid meant the premiums went up. I had to answer “why” I “allowed it to continue”.
Yes I may have been able to sue, but that would be a career vaporizing move.
Now, many companies require you to be 100% tobacco free as a condition of employment. They also are charging a surcharge if your blood numbers are to high, waist to large, or any other of the flags for higher risk activities.
If YOU are not paying for 100% of YOUR healthcare, the people that do pay for will take a very active interest in the choices you make.
Shared risk means that your health isn’t just your concern.
>So you prefer having govt force abstention by way of taxation??
You misread me, FRiend. The only taxes to be paid are for service(s) rendered (outside of those typically unavailable to the individual).
Else, govt and nanny-staters can fark off.
Don’t buy, buy where you can, learn to do so yourself (much prefer that later of the list). Govt shouldn’t be in the social engineering biz; there’s nothing they touch that hasn’t gone to s*.
Liberals should have learned, at least 20 years ago, that many people change their behavior, because of taxes. In about 1991, the New Jersey legislature passed a new tax on farm machinery, including tractors and combines. As soon as the tax went into effect, many New Jersey farmers bought their tractors and combines in Penn., causing the New Jersey vehicle tax revenue to decrease.
Cook Co. Board President Preckwinkle beat Todd Stroger, in 2010, because he approved increasing the county sales tax rate. Since she did the same thing, she should agree that she should lose. Who will run against her in 2018? No one ran against her in 2014.
They could have found that out by visiting my old neighborhood in Chicago, which borders Indiana. There are no gasoline stations for miles—but you can see abandoned buildings where stations once were— and few convenience stores. Why pay high prices for gasoline and cigarettes, etc., when you can drive a couple of miles or less to Indiana? When you cross into Indiana, it’s a different world — plenty of gasoline stations, tobacco shops, convenience stores, as soon as you hit the border. Years ago when I smoked cigarettes, I could get Pall Malls for $2.50 a pack. They were $9-10 in Chicago. Gasoline usually was at least a quarter a gallon less than anywhere in Illinois. The Dominick’s closed years before the chain went under, and the Jewel closed a couple of years ago. Probably done in by Walmart, Aldi’s and Strack & Van Til in Hammond.
I had a girlfriend who lived in Lansing. She usually bought groceries in the Strack & Van Til in Hammond, and she usually bought gas in Indiana. When I lived in Wheeling, I usually bought gas and groceries in Buffalo Grove in Lake Co.
Those on SNAP benefits do not have to pay sales tax. So unless they ban the purchase of “sugary” beverages the only ones that will be paying the additional tax would be those paying cash.
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