Approval of soda tax is scary precedent for food industry

Voters in Berkeley, Calif., made history Tuesday, approving the nation’s first soda tax.

Berkeley’s Measure D imposes a 1 cent per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs)and flavored drinks for residents in this city of 117,000. That will increase the price of a can of soda in Berkeley by 12 cents, and 68 cents for a 2-liter bottle. A referendum in San Francisco on a 2 cent per ounce tax fizzled. It needed a 2/3 majority vote and was considered the tougher win. The American Beverage Association, which represents U.S. drink makers like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, spent upwards of $11 million in total ($9 million in San Francisco alone) to oppose the ballot measures.

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