Battle Over D.C. Soda Tax Heats Up

A couple weeks ago I blogged about a far-reaching school nutrition proposal expected to pass the District of Columbia Council and a controversial plan to pay for its implementation with a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on soda.  (The tax would be imposed on soda that contains sugar; diet soda would be exempt.)  Well ... the nutrition proposal has passed, but the soda industry is, as explained in today's Washington Post, mounting an expensive lobbying and media campaign against the soda tax.  The sponsor of the tax, D.C. Council Member Mary Cheh, worries that her colleagues will be intimidated: "It is hard to fight against a multimillion dollar PR effort from big soda. If people are not fully attuned and fully aware, they can get scared easily. I am worried my colleagues are not going to go beneath the surface."  According to the Post, Ellen Valentino, the executive vice president of the the Maryland-D.C.-Delaware Beverage Association, "denied Cheh's assertion that her organization is spending millions on the campaign. But Valentino added that the group plans to spend 'whatever it takes to get the message out.'" Mike Jacobson, head of the D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, supports the tax, noting that "[s]oda consumption in the District is fueling an expensive epidemic of diet-related diseases. A modest tax on this nutritionally worthless, disease-promoting product would give our seniors and children greater access to fresh fruits, vegetables and other health-promoting foods."