Philadelphia Just Became the First Big City With a Soda Tax

Health advocates predict the move could spark a nationwide trend.

ValeStock/Shutterstock

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


On Thursday, Philadelphia became the first major US city to adopt a tax on carbonated and sugary drinks. The 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax will apply to sodas, diet sodas, and other drinks with added sugar like Gatorade, lemonade, and iced tea.

The policy is a huge step for soda tax advocates: Similar proposals have been defeated in at least 40 cities or states—with the help of more than $100 million from the American Beverage Association, PepsiCo, and Coca Cola. Until now, relatively small and liberal Berkeley, California was the only city with an existing policy.

But Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in the country, and among the poorest. Unlike other cities, whose politicians touted the potential health benefits of a soda tax, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney focused on the money: the policy is expected to bring in nearly $400 million over five years, most of which will go to expand pre-K education and maintain parks, community centers, and schools.

“When history looks back on this, Philadelphia will be seen as what launched a much broader wave of these taxes,” says Kelly Brownell, the dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University who focuses on food policy. Between the relatively high tax (Berkeley’s is only one cent per ounce) and the focus on city revenue, the policy is a “forecast of what will happen in the rest of the country,” he says.

Of course, not everyone is happy about the new law: The American Beverage Association, which spent nearly $5 million campaigning against the measure, has promised legal action. “The fact remains that these taxes are discriminatory and highly unpopular—not only with Philadelphians, but with all Americans,” read a recent ABA statement.

In the meantime, several large, diverse cities are likely to use Philadelphia’s policy as a model for their own policies, says Jim Krieger, of Healthy Food America: San Francisco, Oakland, and Boulder are set to consider soda taxes this year.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate