New Soda Taxes Mean New Strategies For Industry Lobby

The idea of a tax on soda has been making its way into the legislatures of many American cities. After an expensive showdown a few years ago in Berkeley, in which grassroots activists trounced the multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts of the beverage industry and passed one such tax, similar bills have turned up across the country. Emulating nationwide taxes in countries like Mexico and France, these proposals are meant to combat the popularity of sugary drinks and their contribution to the epidemic of obesity in the United States. Recognizing this growing trend, however, the industry’s trade group, the American Beverage Association (ABA), has begun a large-scale campaign to stop it in its tracks.

Yes! to Affordable Groceries

The beverage industry’s renewed lobbying efforts began in the wake of the most recent soda tax, which took effect in January in Seattle. In February, “Yes! to Affordable Groceries” registered as a ballot committee backed by the ABA. “This is the first step in the process to explore a statewide ballot measure that will keep groceries affordable and free of new local taxes,” said Jim Desler, a spokesman for the committee.¹

Indeed, the expressed purpose of the absurdly-titled committee is not to repeal old soda taxes, but to prevent new ones from being enacted. And so far, these and similar strategies by the industry are working. At the end of March, Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona signed a bill into law that outlaws these taxes anywhere in the state, and in doing so quashes any potential local movements before their inception.²

Big Soda Fights Back

Bills like this one, the products of expensive lobbying, and organizations like Yes! to Affordable Groceries represent a new direction in the soda industry’s defensive tactics. Its attempts to throw money at the problem in individual cities like Philadelphia and Seattle failed spectacularly, and so it has turned to the states to preempt the problem before it spreads. The Arizona bill, and a similar one in Michigan, were quietly pushed through in a matter of weeks.³

Likewise, the ballot committee in Washington state represents an attempt to turn our attention away from soda itself and to convince us that any such tax is the first step on a slippery slope towards new taxes on meats, vegetables, and whatever else they can get us to imagine. Their website describes them as “a group of citizens, businesses, and community organizations actively opposing new taxes on everyday grocery items.”⁴ With the spread of local movements to rein in obesity, the soda industry is becoming more sophisticated in its opposition. Those in favor of the tax should act quickly before it becomes impossible.

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD

This article has been medically reviewed by Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD.

Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD is an aesthetic medicine specialist whose work focuses on patients who are treated for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other weight-related issues through nutritional analysis, keto diet programs, and supporting medications.

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Ryan Mernin

Ryan is a freelance writer and editor based in Philadelphia. He has edited books of Chinese philosophy, interviewed bands as a music journalist, and labored over satirical treatises in the candlelit hours of the early morning. He has also tended bar.

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