Newsom wants to charge stores that sell sodas

[Chris_]

Newsom wants to charge stores that sell sodas

Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages.

Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual cans of soda and sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board of Supervisors to levy a fee on retailers. His legislation would charge grocery stores like Safeway and big-box stores, but would not affect restaurants that serve sodas.

Newsom wouldn't say how much the stores would have to pay or how the city would spend the fees. When he first floated the idea in 2007, he said the money would go to his Shape Up San Francisco exercise program and for media campaigns to discourage soda drinking.

The mayor said the city attorney's office has warned him the city would probably be sued over the matter, but he said it is worth the risk to try to curb a leading cause of obesity and diabetes.

"We know we'll be sued," he said. "But I really believe this is important to do."

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Stupidity must be in the water in sanfransissyco.

[JohnnyReb]

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Stupidity must be in the water in sanfransissyco.

Just because supposedly sane people there wear their chasity belts backwards doesn't mean they are stupid.

[NHSparky]

Newsom wants to charge stores that sell sodas

You already do, assclown.  They're called "taxes", "licensing fees", and other assorted sundry usurious charges.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It's difficult to be surprised by new finds from the Kimberly Mine of Stupid, San Franpsycho.  But it does look like the trips around the drain hole at the bottom of the bowl are getting a lot shorter and faster.