OPINION: No to the proposed DC tax for everyday beverages
Published in eltiempolatino.com, February 13th, 2020
The last thing the DC Council should be doing is raising taxes on working families and neighborhood businesses that are already struggling with rising costs in the District. Yet some members of the DC Council are doing exactly that by proposing a tax that would add 1.5 cent per ounce on a host of everyday beverages, including lemonade, iced tea, coconut water, energy drinks, soda, and even juice boxes. That may not sound like much for them, but for many low-income DC families – who spend a great portion of their budgets on groceries – this tax is harmful. Under this tax, a 19-ounce canister of lemonade mix would increase from $4.99 to $8.83 (up 77%). The cost of a family-size 2-liter bottle of soda would increase from $2.19 to $3.20 (up 46%.) Latinos and other working families residing in DC are already struggling to keep up with the city’s increased cost of living – one of the highest in the nation. According to a recent report, the average rent in DC is $3,100, behind only San Francisco and New York City. That same study found that Washingtonians would need a household income of $132,857 to not be rent cost-burdened – much higher than the city’s median household of $82,372. Given that gap, this proposed tax is a harmful policy that will only make things harder for our families.
