California city tests waters for soft
drinks tax
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[February 26, 2014]
By Laila Kearney
BERKELEY, California (Reuters) - A
California city is to consult its citizens on whether to impose a soda
tax on sugary drinks, following failed bids by other local governments
to pass similar measures.
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The Berkeley City Council will gauge local voter support for a
penny-per-ounce tax - opposed by most of the soft drinks industry
but which its backers say could help to curb obesity and diabetes -
in an opinion poll next week.
Depending on the outcome, it might include a referendum on
introducing the tax in a city-wide ballot in November.
Other U.S. cities have tried without success to enact such a tax
amid a growing national movement to curb the consumption of
high-calorie beverages. Proposals are under consideration in San
Francisco and the state of Illinois.
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Attempts to tax sugary drinks in two other California cities,
Richmond and El Monte, failed in the face of strong opposition from
the beverage industry.
A state judge declared a ban on large sugary drinks by former New
York Mayor Michael Bloomberg illegal, but the state's highest court
agreed in October to hear an appeal.
The American Beverage Association, a trade group, said earlier this
month that a soda tax would have "unintended consequences on
middle-class jobs and small businesses."
It declined to comment on the Berkeley initiative.
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City officials said their proposed tax, which could be one cent per
ounce, would be added at the first point of distribution and
generate between $1.5 million and $3 million in public funds
annually.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney in Berkeley, California; Writing by Eric
M. Johnson; Editing by John Stonestreet)
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