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Philadelphia passes soda tax

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Batman, Jun 16, 2016.

  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    :):)
    But nobody down South drinks soda pop, it's all coke. And it's not sweet tea!

    ;)
     
  2. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Restaurants won't stop giving free refills. They'll just hike up the cost of a Coke to $4 or whatever. Soda gets marked up ridiculously in restaurants and it's where they make a lot of cash.
     
  3. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    Really? the people in PA who pay far less in property taxes are going to pay the toll for the Ben Franklin Bridge to save a few cents on soda?
     
  4. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Sweetums objects.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    The way the tax is set up, the cost of a case of 16-ounce soda bottles will increase by almost $6. That's already more than the toll. Buy four cases, you'll save almost $20.

    P.S. -- Taxes in Philadelphia and its suburbs aren't that much less than N.J. anymore.
     
  6. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    yeah? The taxes in comparable PA towns aren't that much more than NJ? NJ is the worst or at least top 5 in highest property taxes for the past 2 decades or more. You can argue town to town, but PA taxes are way lower. You think maybe that's why NJ made a law that you have to live in NJ if you work for the state?
     
  7. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    There's not a lot of difference in cost of living, maybe not specifically taxes, between the Philly and its PA suburbs and its South Jersey suburbs.

    The tax rates might be lower in Southeast PA, but the property values are lower in South Jersey, so it's a wash more often than not.

    It's besides the point anyway. You'll be able to make up the cost of a toll pretty easily by going to NJ to buy your soda.
     
  8. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    I've never been to Philly or N.J., and was unaware of the toll bridge.

    But I know many people who will drive ridiculous distances to save, say, 10 cents a gallon on gas. Or avoid paying a can/bottle deposit.

    It's the West. We drive ridiculous distances to do anything!:)
     
  9. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Since they're starting by putting the tax on distributors, I wonder if the real effect of it will be to move jobs out of the city? Instead of having a warehouse inside the city limits, maybe the distributor sets up shop in Camden or Wilmington, or one of the PA suburbs. If they're able to run their transactions through there instead of in Philadelphia, it could be a workaround on the tax.
     
  10. Amy

    Amy Well-Known Member

    Your tax avoidance structure won't work. Although it appears the distributor is the party that has to remit the tax, it's not imposed on the inventory a wholesale distributor holds in a warehouse. It is triggered by the delivery to a retailer in the City. It is imposed when a distributor delivers to a dealer (someone who will sell to consumers at retail) in the City or when the dealer brings the product into the City.

    Since the tax is imposed at the wholesale level and likely will get passed through in the prices charged the consumer, it will also result in an increase in state sales taxes, so another small increase in price to the consumer and more revenue to the State without the State doing anything. (I'm pretty sure soda is subject to tax in PA, although the definitions of what's taxable under state sales tax may not line up exactly with the City definitions.)
     
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