Tag Archives: soda tax

ILN Today Post
October 22, 2017

Oregon: Newest frontier for soda tax

By McDonald Hopkins LLC of McDonald Hopkins

In early April, organizers in Multnomah County, Oregon, where the city of Portland is located, began the process for enacting an ordinance that would impose a .015 cent per fluid ounce excise tax on “the privilege of distributing sugar-sweetened beverage products.” The proceeds from the tax would be put toward the Children’s Health and Education Fund, and dedicated to funding projects that serve children in low-income families and communities of color in the county that:

  • Expand access to early childhood education and early literacy initiatives
  • Increase physical activity and physical fitness of children
  • Improve the nutrition of children
  • Improve the dental health of children
  • Reduce health disparities of children

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Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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ILN Today Post
September 15, 2017

Illinois: Efforts to repeal soda tax continue

By McDonald Hopkins LLC of McDonald Hopkins

There continue to be new developments in the seemingly never-ending fight over Illinois’ newly enacted soda tax, which just took effect on Aug. 2, 2017. The last time we visited this tax, the court had dismissed a lawsuit seeking to have the tax struck down, and the plaintiffs, including the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) and several food markets, had filed their notice of appeal.

Since then, Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle spearheaded a county lawsuit against those same plaintiffs for $17 million in damages, on the grounds that their legal challenges, which delayed implementation of the tax by eight months, caused the county to lose revenue. On Aug. 8, 2017, she withdrew the suit, and released the following statement: “Now that the Appellate Court has rejected the emergency motion that would again prevent us from collecting the sweetened beverage tax, we believe we should move forward cooperatively and in good faith with the County’s retail industry.”

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Posted in News | North America
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ILN Today Post
July 27, 2017

Pennsylvania: Fight to block soda tax goes to the state Supreme Court

By McDonald Hopkins LLC of McDonald Hopkins

Last December, a trial court dismissed a lawsuit that a group of stakeholders filed against the city of Philadelphia and the Department of Revenue, as we described at the time. In their complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that the so-called beverage tax, the imposition and collection of which began on Jan. 1, 2017, unlawfully duplicated the already-existing sales and use tax on soft drinks in violation of the Pennsylvania Sterling Act; that it unlawfully circumvents the state taxing power; and that it violates the state constitution’s uniformity clause. The uniformity clause provides that “[a]ll taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.”

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Posted in News | North America
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