Is a Sweetened Drink Tax in Cook County a Sour Idea?

CHICAGO, IL — Cook County residents could be paying a little extra in the future if they want to enjoy a can of Dr Pepper or a bottle of Yoo-hoo.

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle officially proposed her contentious penny-per-ounce tax on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages, such as energy and sports drinks, as part of the county's 2017 budget, which she unveiled Thursday. The tax, which would go into effect in July, is expected to generate about $74.6 million and will help fund public safety and anti-violence programs that will cost Cook County about $6 million.

"We will designate a significant portion of our funding to support collective impact initiatives that work to address violence in our most at-risk communities, and allow us to strengthen the efforts of more community-based organizations working on the ground to support our larger effort to create safe and stable communities throughout Cook County,” Preckwinkle said in a statement.

The board president also pledged that if the soda tax was approved, she would not raise county taxes for at least the next two fiscal years.

Here's how the sweetened drink tax would work:

• The tax defines "sweetened beverage" as a drink that contains sugar or an artificial sweetner. That includes carbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks that didn't contain 100 percent juice, and sports and energy drinks.
• Exempted beverages are water, baby formula, fruit juice and various types of milk.
• The tax would apply to sweetened drinks in bottles and cans, as well as fountain drinks.
• Under the new tax, a 2-liter bottle of Coke will have an extra 68 cents tacked on, and a six-pack of cans of the soft drink will include an additional 72 cents added to the cost (not counting sales tax).

Before officially proposing the tax, sources claimed Precwinkle worked hard to drum up support from labor leaders upset after she reinstated a penny sales tax she campaigned against, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Other groups — such as those representing food-related businesses, as well as beverage bottlers and distributors — also are upset over the idea of taxing soft drinks. Some have called it a job killer that would damage Chicago's hospitality industry.

“We pay the highest sales tax in the nation," Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association told the Sun-Times. "We just had our property taxes raised twice. We now have a new tax on water and sewer bills. Residents and businesses of Cook County have been nickeled and dimed so much, they have tax fatigue. The last think they need is policies that will slow growth, drive businesses out of the county and force businesses to raise prices where it hurts the most: in the wallets of Cook County families. Where do we go next? Do we start taxing the sodium in soup?”

Other U.S. cities have knocked around the idea of taxing sugary soft drinks with mixed results. Earlier this year, Philadelphia's city council passed such a measure, and officials in Oakland, CA, are considering it. Currently, 33 states tax the sale of soft drinks, and six of them tack on an excise tax to the sales tax.

This isn't the first time a soft drink tax has floated through the halls of local government. In 2015, Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a sugary drink "fat tax" — it replaced an equally controversial garbage collection fee — that was eventually shot down by the Chicago Coalition Against Beverage Taxes, the Sun-Times reports.

If the county does want to place a tax on sugary soft drinks, though, the board will need the Illinois General Assembly to sign off on it, too, the report added.

YOUR TURN: What do you think about the idea of a Cook County tax on sugary soft drinks? Is it a good or bad idea? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.

UPDATED (3:34 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14)

More via the Chicago Sun-Times

photo via Pixabay

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