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Soda Tax Is Again Before California Legislators

Soda Tax Is Again Before California Legislators

March 17, 2016 Roots of Change

California lawmakers have again introduced legislation to impose a fee on sodas and other sugary beverages — not a true tax, but a “health impact fee” to be paid by beverage distributors.

Still, the presumption is that the two-cents-an-ounce fee — 24 cents on a 12-ounce can of soda — would be passed along to consumers, and, if passed, would raise $2 billion annually. “That’s real money,” said the legislation’s author, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica.

The revenue would go into a “Healthy California Fund,” to be created by the bill. From there it would be spent on public health programs across the state, to fight obesity, diabetes and dental disease.

Assemblymember Richard Bloom, California, health, legislation, soda tax