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Facts

Raising Taxes on Beverages Would Hurt New Yorkers

A new tax on beverages – including juice drinks, sodas, sports drinks and iced teas – would hit hardworking New York families the hardest. There could not be a worse time to ask them to pay more for the groceries they buy.

Here are the facts:

A regressive tax:

A sales tax on products – like soda and juice drinks – hits those who can least afford to pay the higher costs, especially middle- and lower-income New Yorkers.

Jobs are at stake:

The beverage industry currently supports hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs in New York, adding up to billions in wages. These are jobs held by hardworking New Yorkers all across the state in manufacturing, distribution, and retail.

Jobs in the beverage industry are good jobs, and include many union workers.

The non-alcoholic beverage industry in New York State has a direct economic impact of $7 billion per year and supports an additional $18 billion in economic activity.

New taxes are not the answer to the state’s budget problems.

New Yorkers already pay too many taxes. We can’t afford to keep paying more. Our legislators should find other ways to balance their budget, without burdening hardworking families and businesses.

Get involved! Here’s what you can do:

Sign up to support New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes at NoBeverageTax.com.

Write your legislator or Governor Cuomo and tell them you can’t afford new taxes.

Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes?

A. New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes is a growing coalition of concerned New Yorkers – hard working individuals, struggling families, and already-burdened small businesses – opposed to any new tax increases on juice drinks, sodas and other beverages. New Yorkers are already among the highest taxed citizens in the nation and are against a regressive tax that hurts middle- and lower-income New Yorkers the most.

Q. Could a beverage tax increase damage New York’s economy?

A. A tax increase could do serious damage to our already fragile economy. The beverage industry supports well over 150,000 jobs in New York communities large and small, providing a direct economic benefit to the state economy of nearly $7 billion and an indirect benefit of $25 billion. A tax hike on beverages would put at risk good-paying jobs with good health benefits for many hard-working New Yorkers – hitting them in both their checkbook and their paycheck.

Q. Aren’t there already taxes on juice drinks and soda sold in New York?

A. You bet there are, loads of them. The State of New York already has some of the highest sales taxes in the nation. New Yorkers would pay this new tax in addition to the existing sales tax, regardless of whether the beverages were purchased at a store, or in a restaurant. Current sales taxes in New York vary from 7% to 8.75%, depending on where you live.

Q. Who will be most affected by a tax increase on juice drinks and soda?

A. A beverage tax increase will have a disproportionate impact on those who can least afford to pay the higher costs, especially middle- and lower-income New Yorkers. New York families already pay some of the highest taxes in the nation, and are struggling in this difficult economy. There could not be a worse time to ask them to pay more for the products they consume.

Quotes

“The tax would pull more money out of taxpayers’ hands in order to prop up a broken and bloated government budget. “

—John Nothdurft, 10/24/09

“I read in one of the news accounts that [Gov. Paterson is] proposing a soda tax again…The bottom line should be, as we go through these discussions, no new taxes, no new fees.�

—Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI), from NY Post ‘Fizzy fit over ‘tax’ on sodas’, 10/22/09

“I am appalled by the comparison of cigarette smoking to soft drink consumption by misguided pundits and advocates…An analogy such as this is an outrage that cancer researchers should denounce as a trivialization of a deadly disease that inflicts family tragedy and enormous societal cost.�

—Richard H. Adamson, Ph.D, The Post-Standard, Letter to the Editor, 1/9/09

“Daines’ online scold, of course, is of a piece with the arrogant, we-know-what’s-best-for –you attitude that Mayor Bloomberg and city health czar Tom Frieden have displayed to a fare-thee-well….If they keep it up, though, we know where it’ll lead: Eventually, New Yorkers will run flat out of money – and starve. Now there’s a way to guarantee they’ll lose weight. Or is that what Paterson and Daines had in mind all along?�

—New York Post, editorial, 1/4/09

“We already pay the third highest taxes in the nation, we pay taxes on property over assessed, we pay for permits to do anything on or to our property, we pay income tax, property tax, tax on purchases, tax on gasoline, tax on food…tax on phone, electric, gas and water usage. We are tax stressed!…We pay over and over and over again in taxes…in everything we do, buy and use. So we now have an obesity tax because only soda makes people obese? No more taxes.�

—Nicole Bardo DeGolier, The Post-Journal, Letter to the Editor, 1/11/09

“I started this company precisely because people wanted a lower-calorie and refreshing alternative to plain juice. Now it seems that Gov. Paterson wants to penalize my company, and others like it, for providing healthful, all-natural alternatives.�

—Liz Morrill, founder and CEO Fizzy Lizzy all-natural sparkling juice, Convenience Store News, 1/13/09