Friday, March 10, 2017

Philadelphia's Soda Tax Fizzes

                                                                   

On 1 January, 2017 the City Masters of Philadelphia imposed an egregious soda tax on their municipal subjects.  In doing so they demonstrated the real and serious degree of control that government has over an individual's life and and personal choices.  Our founding fathers, with Thomas Jefferson in the lead, have to be spinning in their graves as they witness the unwinding of personal freedom in America.

And, let's give Philadelphia some serious street cred....they didn't pussy foot around...the soda tax itself exceeding the cost of a soda.  Buy a two-liter bottle of Pepsi in Philly and you pay $1.79 for the bottle of soda...and $2.04 in tax, bringing the costs of that soda to $3.83!  Sweet, huh?

So how's that all working out?  Well, Coke and Pepsi alone has laid off hundreds of bottling and distributing and beverage delivery drivers.  The Soda workers are now without a salary, without healthcare, and without the ability to pay taxes to our government masters...and will now climb on the government dole and file for unemployment and food stamps.

And has the soda tax improved the health of the denizens of the great socialist city of Philadelphia?  Nope....soda drinkers simply drove out to the suburbs and bought their Pepsi and Coke where it wasn't being taxed!

As a result of Philadelphia's soda tax the city's geniuses are finding that tax revenues are plunging.  They are now scrambling to come up with a way to make up for lost revenue.  One of their brilliant municipal planners has come up with the idea to tax meat sold in supermarkets...the argument for doing that being that lamb and beef and chickens contribute to global warming...and we'd all be better off for eating less of it.

So, if you want to visit Philadelphia, and their 21% hotel tax has put a crimp in your travel budget, and you want to economize by choosing a fast food meal, you might have to rent a car and drive to the suburbs to eat.  But if you have to rent a car to drive there, you might not be surprised that Philly has a big tax on that rental car as well.

Your brilliant government masters at work!  And they're busy all over the American map, people.  Old Tommy Jefferson is spinning in turbo mode down there in Virginia.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

1 comment:

Jeff H said...

Gee, the rocket surgeons in charge can't think 2 hours into the future? Go figure. Couldn't wait to get rid of obummercare, but put no thought into their plan. Just setting themselves up for a massive fall in 2018. Why pick a side in politics, they're all incompetent.