Press Release: 200+ Community Members & Local Business Owners Oppose DC Council’s Beverage Tax

From: Alliance for an Affordable DC, January 14th, 2020 The Alliance for an Affordable DC (The Alliance), a growing group of residents and small-business owners serving neighborhoods throughout the city, today announced its opposition to the DC Council's proposed beverage tax. Read More

Letter: Teamsters Oppose Beverage Tax

From: Teamsters Warehouse Employees Union, January 9th, 2020 It's a simple equation: When prices go up on food and beverages, sales go down and it's our unions, our workers and working families that take the hit. Read More

DC should reverse course on soda tax

The Hill, December 7. The D.C. Council, which implemented a 2 percent tax on sodas and other sugary drinks in October and is now considering an even higher rate of 1.5 cents-per-ounce, seems determined to make the nation’s capital — already one of the most expensive cities in the country — even less affordable for its residents and more hostile to job creators. Read More

Tom Charley: Philly-style tax could impact Western PA

Trib Live, Nov 26th The city created the tax a few years ago, and the results have been devastating for community-owned grocery stores. This tax raises the price on more than just pop. Sports drinks, almond and soy milk, juice, and many other beverages are being taxed, too. Read More

D.C. City Council Should End Attempt to Enact Soda Tax

Inside Source, November 18th The D.C. City Council is considering implementing taxes on sweetened beverages, despite evidence the tactic to fight obesity and diabetes hasn't worked in other cities that have passed these taxes. Read More

City Budget Hunger Games: Mercer Megablock Money Grab, Probation Expansion Skeptics, Homelessness, “High-Barrier Offenders,” and More

The C is for Crank, November 4th The sweetened beverage tax is explicitly supposed to fund programs that promote healthy food in parts of the city that are most impacted by the tax - areas that do not include Ballard, which is one of Seattle's whitest (and one of its wealthier) neighborhoods. Read More

D.C.’s proposed soda tax sounds sweeter than it is

The Washington Post, November 1st It’s hard to overstate the abject failure of soda taxes to deliver on their promised benefits. Nowhere in the world, let alone the United States, have soda taxes reduced obesity. Read More

Effects of Sweetened Beverage Taxes in Philadelphia and Oakland

Mathematica, October 21st Consumption did not decline significantly overall in Philadelphia or Oakland, but adult consumption of regular soda declined in both cities, and children in Philadelphia who were high consumers of added sugars from drinks saw a reduction. Read More

A D.C. soda tax is empty-calorie legislating

The Washington Post Op-Ed, October 15th The recent public-relations stunt orchestrated by D.C. Council members Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) and Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) had all the elements of grand theater: a prominent setting at the John A. Wilson Building, a catchy theme song, a stunning visual in 30 jugs of multicolored drinks and even a hashtag to display the serious nature of the legislation about to be introduced. But in reality, it was more a celebration of failure than success. Read More

Washington, D.C. ranked one of the best cities… or is it?

Patch, October 11th Washington, D.C. is ranked fifth on the CNT's best cities list and it is ranked third on our Financial State of the Cities. D.C. is the only city on the CNT list that has a Taxpayer Surplus. D.C.'s Taxpayer Surplus is $3,300, which means the district could write a check to each taxpayer for $3,300. The other nine cities in CNT's list have Taxpayer Burdens. Read More