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No Coke. No Pepsi, Either
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The experience in other cities and states has made it clear that soda taxes generally backfire: While they do reduce soda sales in the affected areas, it just drives people to go where there's no tax and buy soda there. (For example, Philadelphia's soda tax drove up sales in no-soda-tax Delaware County.) The net result is that the revenue is way short of projections, the programs funded by the tax have to get money from someplace else, and everyone loses. Why am I reminding you of this? Because there are five -- five! -- bills being introduced in California to attack soda consumption, and, yes, a tax is on the table, along with capping the size of sodas sold in cups at 16 ounces -- no more Big Gulp -- and labeling and banning placement of sodas near store checkout counters and even banning sale prices on soda. In the case of making an entire state subject to soda laws, it does help that the shared borders with other states are sparsely populated, because nobody's going to drive from L.A. to Arizona or Nevada just to buy soda cheaper. (San Diego to Tijuana, on the other hand... plus, real cane sugar in Mexican Coke...) But, and I say this as someone who hasn't had a soda in roughly a decade, these laws won't work if they pass and, judging by how 11 past attempts have failed to pass, they won't pass. (KNTV/San Jose-San Francisco)
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