A new tax on sodas, sugary drinks? It might be part of Illinois budget deal

[TexasTowelie]

A proposition to tax sugary beverages is being revived as part of the Illinois Senate's "grand bargain" to pass a state budget.

Senate Bill 9 will tax any beverage that has five grams of sugar or more, meaning drinks like soda and certain juices will be affected. The bill requires distributors to impose a penny-per-ounce tax on retailers, which would produce an estimated $560 million for the state.

The tax isn't the only revenue-generating legislation the Senate is considering as part of its budget compromise. There's also an income tax increase that aims to generate $4.1 billion.

Health care advocates view the beverage tax as a responsible revenue generator. But soft drink representatives say SB9 would have dire consequences, not only for prices, but also employees in the industry.

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/news/20170118/new-tax-on-sodas-sugary-drinks-it-might-be-part-of-illinois-budget-deal

[The_Voice_of_Reason]

1. Everyone is fine with

taxing my cigarettes, my wine, my beer and my Scotch, so I am fine with sin taxes on surgery drinks, Pop Tarts, even the beloved Hot Pockets.

[Doomy_Tunes]

2. Don't tax sugar-free

Good idea to tax sugar, or even more worse is HFCS.

I think an excise tax works best and show the price on the shelf so people will be aware of the difference and not surprise them at the register.

Boulder, & Berkeley don't tax sugar-free and this encourages innovation as we're already see taking place in the U.K. as reformulations reduce sugar content.

[mopinko]

3. so does cook county pay twice then?

is this just ruiner's way of poking cook county dems?