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A new tax on sugary drinks designed to generate revenue for cash-strapped Cook County .......
illinoispolicy.org ^ | 06/28/17 | Robert Brutvan

Posted on 07/31/2017 5:10:57 AM PDT by sleeper-has-awakened

Full Title: A new tax on sugary drinks designed to generate revenue for cash-strapped Cook County will be the third burdensome tax applied to soda prices in Chicago, making a $4 12-pack of soda in the city cost $5.97.

Beginning July 1, residents of Cook County may notice their grocery bills growing as a penny-per-ounce tax on artificially sweetened beverages takes effect.

The new tax will be added on top of Chicago’s highest in the nation sales tax of 10.25 percent and the city’s 3 percent tax on non-alcoholic beverages. With the new sugary beverage tax, soda in Chicago will be some of the most expensive in the nation as a $4 12-pack of soda will cost $5.97, an effective tax rate of nearly 50 percent.

The new tax on sugary beverages will also affect fountain drinks, energy drinks, tea, coffee, diet soda and juices that aren’t 100 percent fruit of vegetable juice.

The Illinois Retail Merchants Association filed a lawsuit against Cook County June 27 in an effort to stop the penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages. Retailers filed to halt the tax, claiming that the tax is unconstitutionally vague and not uniform in what it taxes. A statement released from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association claims that the Sweetened Beverage Tax creates illegal and unsubstantial classifications of beverages, such as differentiating a bottled Frappuccino sold in a convenience store, which would be taxable, from a Frappuccino prepared in a coffee shop, which would not be subject to the tax.

(Excerpt) Read more at illinoispolicy.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: bluezones; chicago; colawars; food; illinois; soda; sugar; tax; taxandspend; taxes
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To: ObozoMustGo2012; ClearCase_guy

>
[I just love how coffee is considered a “sugary drink”.]

Have you seen the obscene amounts of sugar people pour into their cups??
>

1) The tax covers DIET drinks - Socialist logic
2) Sugar\etc. in coffee, unless bought ‘pre-mixed’, is polluted-to-taste AFTER brewing. Apples vs. oranges


41 posted on 07/31/2017 6:45:31 AM PDT by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: sleeper-has-awakened

If you drive your car they’ll tax the street
If you take a walk they’ll tax your feet
Slake your thirst? They’ll tax the sweet ...
Chicago Democrats. But I repeat myself.


42 posted on 07/31/2017 6:45:37 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: upchuck
Wrong

The new tax on sugary beverages will also affect fountain drinks, energy drinks, tea, coffee, diet soda and juices that aren’t 100 percent fruit of vegetable juice.

43 posted on 07/31/2017 6:47:39 AM PDT by mykroar (Congratulations President Trump)
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To: Salgak
From the article: "...it’s possible the new taxes on sugary beverages will drive business out of Illinois and Cook County rather than generate revenue."

Not only possible, absolutely certain. Imagine a store owner on the Cook county side of the line. If he moves across the street he avoids all these extra taxes. If he doesn't move across the street, someone else will open a store and put him out of business. He has no choice.

44 posted on 07/31/2017 6:48:12 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (Islam delenda est.)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012; All

>
Like everything in life, things need to be taken into moderation.
>

Please define ‘moderation’ that pertains across-the-board.

Then, tell us how it is the govt responsibility to FORCE said ‘moderation’.

Social engineering through Socialism: Isn’t just for Leftists anymore, eh?


45 posted on 07/31/2017 6:49:15 AM PDT by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: eyedigress

Made friends with the candy man in high school. Got a free Hershey Bar...every day. It kept me awake during the very boring afternoon classes. All girl Catholic School!!! Need I say more??


46 posted on 07/31/2017 6:51:02 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: i_robot73

[Then, tell us how it is the govt responsibility to FORCE said ‘moderation’]

So you prefer having govt force abstention by way of taxation??


47 posted on 07/31/2017 6:51:25 AM PDT by ObozoMustGo2012 ("Be quiet... you are #fakenews!")
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

I use 3 tsp sugar in my coffee. Always have. Age 73 5’3” 115 lbs. BP 106/70....for the last 50 years.


48 posted on 07/31/2017 6:53:37 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: redgolum; All

>
When people’s healthcare is paid by my premiums and my taxes, it becomes my problem.

That is the reasoning, and it has some merit.
>

That ‘logic’ is never standardized: Welfare can buy NUMEROUS things on the taxpayer dime, ‘extreme sports’\gays\drinkers aren’t charged higher rates...It’s never been about ‘fair share’, only POWER\control.

The only ‘reasoning’ is to get govt OUT of the theft\transfer-of-wealth ala ‘h’care’.


49 posted on 07/31/2017 6:53:38 AM PDT by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: tumblindice; All

May I be so bold as to make a slight alteration to your poem?

If you drive your car they’ll tax the street
If you take a walk they’ll tax your feet
Slake your thirst? They’ll tax the sweet
Chicago Democrats? But I, myself, repeat...


50 posted on 07/31/2017 7:08:01 AM PDT by notdownwidems (Washington D.C. has become the enemy of free people everywhere!)
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To: sleeper-has-awakened
In Illinois, as cigarette taxes have increased, total tax revenue collected from cigarette taxes has decreased as an estimated 1 in 5 cigarettes in Illinois are smuggled across state and county lines to avoid paying Illinois’ lofty excise taxes. Much like cigarette taxes, it’s possible a soda tax will drive Illinoisans to cross state and county lines to buy their soda where it’s taxed less. If past trends hold true, it’s possible the new taxes on sugary beverages will drive business out of Illinois and Cook County rather than generate revenue.

They are counting on people continuing to buy the taxed drinks so the revenue keeps flowing. That's what it is all about. Not health. The Cook County Board President threatened county job layoffs if the tax didn't stand. Of course, in the long run the revenue will not be what they need and they will have to raise the tax or add a tax to some other item.

51 posted on 07/31/2017 7:17:56 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: txrefugee

Dude. . .

Liberty is all about doing things **YOU** want to do, whether it’s good for you or not. . . .Now excuse me, I’m going to go eat some more delicious bacon, and I don’t care one bit on how it might clog my arteries, 40 years from now. . .


52 posted on 07/31/2017 7:32:38 AM PDT by Salgak (You're in Strange Hands with Tom Stranger. . . .)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Same people who brought us smoking bans, criminally exorbitant tobacco taxes, $25/gun tax, ammunition tax, etc.


53 posted on 07/31/2017 7:45:09 AM PDT by Bonemaker
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To: puppypusher

Helps the black market too,


54 posted on 07/31/2017 7:47:17 AM PDT by Bonemaker
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To: I want the USA back

“Long way to go, but they are moving toward it.”

That’s what progressivism is...inexorable progress toward communism.


55 posted on 07/31/2017 7:49:44 AM PDT by Bonemaker
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To: Surrounded_too

Moderate behavior My A$$ they just want the money so they can continue to rob and pillage the tax payer and hand out graft to their cronies. God forbid they actually CUT BACK on waste.


56 posted on 07/31/2017 7:53:11 AM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: redgolum

When you get sick...which you will...someone else will for It? The idea of insurance is that everyone chips in to a pool out of which the needs of members are paid for.Some cost more some less. Shared risk.


57 posted on 07/31/2017 7:55:56 AM PDT by Bonemaker
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To: JohnBrowdie

They do big time in Crook County.


58 posted on 07/31/2017 7:57:02 AM PDT by Bonemaker
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To: sleeper-has-awakened
I see that many people responding to this thread have fallen into the trap of arguing whether or not these types of drinks are healthy for you. Instead of debating the legality of these onerous additional taxes being imposed, we are instead debating the merits of the argument that these drinks are unhealthy. This is exactly what the nanny staters want!

I remember years ago how anti-smokers and teetotalers rubbed their hands in glee as "sin" taxes were imposed on tobacco and alcoholic beverages. We told them back then that eventually they would soon come after food items deemed unhealthy by the nanny staters and they told us that was nonsense, that tobacco and alcohol was as far as they would go.

59 posted on 07/31/2017 8:07:18 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: upchuck

It applies to tea, coffee, and diet soft drinks.


60 posted on 07/31/2017 8:11:30 AM PDT by MortMan (Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded! [Y. Berra])
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