Boulder passed the nation's steepest soda tax

[Ah Pook]

How did I miss this? I don't really drink sodas but the stupid is strong with this city. The bottom line is a $3.6mil increase to the coffers.

Boulder passed the nation's steepest soda tax; now, to implement i

On Election Day, voters in Boulder approved by an 8-point margin a tax on distributors of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. At 2 cents per ounce, it's the steepest such measure in any of the seven U.S. cities that tax sugary drinks.

Now, to implement it.
According to Kathy Haddock — the senior assistant city attorney who was Boulder's primary legal liaison on the issue during what was an unusually contentious and uniquely expensive campaign — a group of staff members will soon assemble to prepare for the rollout of the ordinance, scheduled for July 1.
Haddock said the city hasn't begun sorting through the various nuances and challenges of administering the tax.
But one scenario she and other Boulder staffers know they'll have to prepare for involves business owners heading out of city limits to exploit what could be a loophole in the plan.
It seems like an easy way to skirt the rules: If a restaurant owner wants to avoid paying more to a distributor for a delivery of, say, sugar-sweetened lemonade, why not drive to Louisville or Longmont and buy the product there, where the tax is not in effect?
"I don't know if that person does become a distributor or not, or how we would implement it," Haddock said. "That's one of those real-life examples where we'll be thinking about how's the appropriate way to treat them."
Berkeley, Calif., which was the first city in the country to approve a sugary drink tax, closed the loophole with a policy that turns anyone who heads out of city limits for their goods into a distributor as soon as they return.
"Whoever is bringing it to the store or restaurant from outside the city would be subject," said Matthai Chakko, a spokesman for Berkeley. "If somebody goes to a store outside the city and buys it and brings it in, they are distributing it inside the city of Berkeley.
"If they want to buy it from somebody else within the city, then they would not be distributing it."
Haddock said she also expects the city will have to respond to requests for ordinance exemptions from businesses that believe they, for whatever reason, shouldn't be taxed.
For example, some makers of the health-nut favorite kombucha, many varieties of which will be taxed because they contain more than 5 grams of added sugar per 12 ounces, hinted before the election that they might try to wriggle out of it if the measure passed.
Anyone seeking an exemption, though, will have to justify the request, which won't be easy.
"We'd have to make a recommendation about whether we think (a request) complies with the initiative, and if it does, then council could adopt it," Haddock said. "But we really have to pay attention to the actual words of the amendment."
When confronted about the kombucha issue ahead of the election, the group that authored and campaigned for the tax made clear in interviews that the beverage wasn't an "unintended" casualty of the measure, but rather thrown in deliberately along with other drinks high in added sugars.
Thus, it's likely an uphill fight for any business or industry seeking to exempt itself from Boulder's tax.
Meanwhile, the city must also determine how it wants to distribute the revenue that will come in as a result of the tax. It's expected to raise $3.8 million in the first year, with nearly all of that money earmarked for public health programming, according to the original ordinance.
But what, exactly, that programming looks like has not yet been determined. The original plan was that a committee would make recommendations for revenue allocation to the City Council, which would then OK a spending plan.

No such committee has been convened yet, and the city isn't quite sure who will be making those recommendations.
"We do have to figure out how we're going to do that," Haddock said.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boul...-now-implement

[colorider]

Fucking martians.

[izzy]

not my kombucha!

[DavieD55]

I hope small businesses exploit and take advantage of any loopholes in order find a way around their BS taxes.

[GilpinGuy]

I spend as little of my $ in Boulder as possible. Fuck them.

[Zundfolge]

This would be a wonderful time to own a convenience store just outside of Boulder city limits.

I also assume this ends free refills at restaurants in Boulder.

[roberth]

Hurrah for the nanny state.

[Dave_L]

So...who wants to go up and pass out sodas some day? LOL

[MrPrena]

Shop Longmont
Shop Niwot

$$$$$$

[Big E3]

I’ll bet just like demonrats always do, the estimated tax revenue numbers are based on no change in current buying behavior. I would love to have a grocery store just down the road. I can’t imagine any consumers who buys soda would buy in a Boulder grocery store. Does this tax include diet soda as well? This will be a nightmare for small convenience stores trying to figure out how to ring things up at the register with different taxes on each item.