Cook County Soda Tax Gets Judge's OK To Go Forward (price, places)

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by Floridabound2

Taxes are American as apple pie pay with pride! Enjoy energy drink while helping Chicago schools!!!!

Cook Co Taxes don't support schools. They support the patronage dumping ground that is the Cook Co Govt.

[beaniemac]

Originally Posted by Floridabound2

No it sure a couple cents matter . Like with bags I see people carrying loose groceries because they do not want to pay seven cents for bag , cheap or protesting? Don't we tax things that are bad for health are you against high priced cigs?

it's not a few cents. on a 2 liter it's like 67 cents which is basically 50% additional in taxes. on a case of pop, you're looking at like an extra $4. it's absurd. luckily, I'm down in texas now not paying state taxes and dealing with that bull****.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by Floridabound2

No it sure a couple cents matter . Like with bags I see people carrying loose groceries because they do not want to pay seven cents for bag , cheap or protesting? Don't we tax things that are bad for health are you against high priced cigs?

Yes i think its crazy when you have 10 items and the cashier asks if you want a bag? Of course! If I am paying $100 for groceries, i will pay 7 cents for a bag.

I am lucky that I don't drink pop, so the tax won't affect me. It won't hit bottled water either.

I also don't smoke so cig tax won't affect me but my friend did smoke when we went to Michigan, a pack of cigs in Illinois is $13.00 but in Indiana and Michigan it was about $6.00.

[Bellamouse]

Originally Posted by prhill

People should not buy this stuff then that way they do not get the money they think they will get. Look at how upset the mayor was when it turned out they did not get anywhere near the the kind of money they thought they were going to get from the bag tax because people started using their own bags. They want to take our money with the soda tax do not give them that either

Here's the thing though. When they propose these taxes, they "project" how much they will take in (of course it's always inflated and doesn't take into account the changes in people's spending habits as a result of the new taxes), but they don't care because they SPEND, in advance, the amount they intend to bring in (fully knowing they won't bring all that money in). But it's an excuse to spend more in the moment without getting questioned because the money is supposedly accounted for. Until it's not. Which only brings on more taxes because they just run a bigger shortfall. It's lunacy.

[Manterro]

How about cutting the payroll before you raise taxes? Toni Preckwinkle told the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board the county is struggling to make payroll because the state owes it $66 million. Cook County’s payroll includes 21,969 full-time employees earning a collective $1.528 billion. A 5% across-the-board pay cut would bridge a $66 million budget gap but Preckwinkle isn’t proposing any pay cuts for Cook County employees.

[s0nginmyheart]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Also, let's pretend that I buy a 20 pack of bottled water every month. That's $1 every month, or $12 every year.

I don't think water is included in the tax and from my understanding it's mostly sugar-filled drinks, but agree with your post that it all adds up.

My friend told me that Boulder passed a 6 cent/oz tax on the same issue. That's crazy!

If the tax is supposed to deter consumers from unhealthy drinking habits, I think the tax should also apply to the manufacturer to be truly effective. Only time will tell.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by s0nginmyheart

I don't think water is included in the tax and from my understanding it's mostly sugar-filled drinks, but agree with your post that it all adds up.

There's a separate bottled water tax in Chicago. > https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/e...water_tax.html

Next will probably be a tax on how much air you breathe, steps walked and for each word spoken.

[prhill]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

There's a separate bottled water tax in Chicago. > https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/e...water_tax.html

Next will probably be a tax on how much air you breathe, steps walked and for each word spoken.

Don't worry that is coming I am sure

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Manterro

How about cutting the payroll before you raise taxes? Toni Preckwinkle told the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board the county is struggling to make payroll because the state owes it $66 million. Cook County’s payroll includes 21,969 full-time employees earning a collective $1.528 billion. A 5% across-the-board pay cut would bridge a $66 million budget gap but Preckwinkle isn’t proposing any pay cuts for Cook County employees.

Trouble with pay cuts is you lose your best workers, especially in a relatively tight labor market, which does currently exist. They could get away with it during the financial crisis because where would people go, but not today. Also, many of those workers are covered by Union agreements, which you can't just unilaterally change.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by beaniemac

it's not a few cents. on a 2 liter it's like 67 cents which is basically 50% additional in taxes. on a case of pop, you're looking at like an extra $4. it's absurd. luckily, I'm down in texas now not paying state taxes and dealing with that bull****.

Yeah a friend of mine put the receipt from a case of soda on Facebook and with the sugar tax plus the sales tax, plus the other drink tax, the tax was like 60% of the price - in other words, it more than doubled the price. I imagine tourists were especially shocked.