Opponents of soda tax encircle city hall
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Opponents to a proposed Philadelphia soda tax rallied in the shadow of City Hall today. WHYY's Tom MacDonald reports.
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Soda trucks encircled City Hall, horns honking, while workers held up signs urging city council to vote against the sugary drink tax. Kevin Smith is a worker at Coca Cola's Philadelphia warehouse. He says the two-cents per ounce tax could put him and others out of work.
Teamster Kevin Smith
Smith: I challenge this mayor and I everybody in challenge city council, find one society that has been taxed into prosperity, they are going to charge a tax who's going to pay four dollars for a bottle of soda, nobody, what's going to happen, all of us are going to lose our jobs.
Even a restaurant owner complained he would have to cut workers to deal with the tax. The Nutter administration is hoping that people will change from soda to other products the soda manufacturers sell.