The bill AB 669 would tax sugary drinks one cent per one ounce sold.
DR. HAROLD GOLDSTEIN: "Drinking soda is like drinking a piece of chocolate cake."
Doctor Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy authored a report about how the tax would benefit California. He says the projected 1.7 billion dollars in tax revenue would mostly go back to local communities to fight childhood obesity.
DR. HAROLD GOLDSTEIN: "It's time to make sure that the price of those sugary beverages includes the cost of the harm that those products are doing."
But Bob Achermann of the California-Nevada Soft Drink
Association says the legislation is an attempt to "tax people into
better nutrition." He says math shows the tax would have an impact
on industry and consumers.
BOB ACHERMANN: "...more than $2.80 per case in additional
tax. And that's on top of the fact that soft drinks are already
subject to sales tax."
A soda tax bill was introduced last year but failed. If
AB6-6-9 makes it through committees, the tax would need a
two-thirds majority to pass.