Members of the City Council will hold a hearing on Wednesday to consider a new and unnecessary 150% soda tax increase.

Such a massive local tax increase on soda not only means higher costs for the consumer, but lost jobs as well. This tax hike, if passed, could very well result in layoffs at the Canada Dry bottling plant in Baltimore County and its distribution center in Glen Burnie at a time when the local economy desperately needs job creation and can ill-afford needless job destruction. A spokeswoman for Canada Dry recently told the Baltimore Business Journal that increasing the soda tax from two to five cents would cause an additional 10-percent decline in sales in Baltimore. 

Unfortunately, this has happened before. When the original 2-cent soda excise tax was enacted in 2010, Pepsi found that it was no longer cost-effective to make soda at their Baltimore facility and was forced to lay off 77 workers as a result.  In 2011 employers called on the city to repeal the tax to no avail. What’s that they say about the definition of insanity?  

Baltimore has an overspending problem, not a revenue problem. The tax code should not be used to pick winners and losers. Not only is raising the soda tax unsound policy, it is even more unwise in light of the fact that the largest federal tax increase in U.S. history will hit hard working Baltimore taxpayers in less than nine short months.   

ATR urges Baltimore residents to call their representative on Baltimore City Council and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and tell them NO NEW TAXES ON SODA. 

Office of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

410-396-3835

Baltimore City Council
Office of the President

410-396-4804

CouncilPresident@baltimorecity.gov

District 1

James B. Kraft

410-396-4821

James.Kraft@baltimorecity.gov

District 2

Brandon M. Scott

410-396-4804

Brandon.Scott@baltimorecity.gov

District 3

Robert Curran

410-396-4812

Robert.Curran@baltimorecity.gov

District 4

Bill Henry

410-396-4830

Bill.Henry@baltimorecity.gov

District 5

Rochelle “Rikki” Spector

410-396-4819

Rochelle.Spector@baltimorecity.gov

District 6

Sharon Green Middleton

410-396-4832

Sharon.Middleton@baltimorecity.gov

District 7

Nick Mosby

410-396-4810

Nick.Mosby@baltimorecity.gov

District 8

Helen Holton

410-396-4818

Helen.Holton@baltimorecity.gov

District 9

William “Pete” Welch

410-396-4815

William.Welch@baltimorecity.gov

District 10

Edward Reisinger

410-396-4822

Edward.Reisinger@baltimorecity.gov

District 11

William H. Cole IV

410-396-4816

William.Cole@baltimorecity.gov

District 12

Carl Stokes

410-396-4811

Carl.Stokes@baltimorecity.gov

District 13

Warren Branch

410-396-4829

Warren.Branch@baltimorecity.gov

District 14

Mary Pat Clarke

410-396-4814

MaryPat.Clarke@baltimorecity.gov