Three California cities will ask voters to levy taxes on sodas and other sugary beverages today. The soda tax movement is mushrooming at the local level and our very own Mike Madrid thinks he knows why.
Madrid recalls environmentalists’ efforts to ban the use of disposable plastic bags.
"For ten years they were unable to get through the Legislature because the plastic bag manufacturers had so much money, and as a result, they took their fights to the local city councils," he says. "After about eight years of doing this, a third of cities passed restrictions, and then the Legislature finally responded."
Now the same thing is happening with soda. Beverage taxes are on the ballot in San Francisco, Oakland, and Albany. Berkeley already has such a tax in place. With every city that signs on, momentum grows, making a statewide soda tax more likely.