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We need jobs - not [insert whatever you don't like here]
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
We need jobs - not [insert whatever you don't like here]
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We need jobs, dammit.
Jobs, I say, not . . . those creamers that don't require refrigeration but taste kind of funny. Jobs – not . . . public radio fundraisers! Jobs, not . . . slightly more expensive pickled green tomatoes at the Reading Terminal Market! Jobs, not another season of The Office!
Jobs, not . . . hmm . . . oh! Jobs, not the soda tax!
There. Having vaguely equated things I don't like with massive job losses, I will now go ahead and join "Save Philly Jobs. Not Taxes," the recently-formed coalition that's been a vocal opponent of the mayor's proposed sugary beverage tax.
"Philly Jobs. Not Taxes." It has a nice, caveman-ish ring to it, don't you think?
I just hope none of "Philly Jobs. Not taxes" members don't mind if nothing they say makes any sense. 'Cause I'm not sure it does.
The only remotely plausible job loss scenario Big Beverage has been able to muster in its efforts to destroy the soda tax is that Philadelphia residents working at the local Coke bottling plant could lose their livelihoods if we pass the soda tax.
Dutifully reported the Inquirer recently:
Area retailers, Teamsters, and beverage companies recently created a Web site, www.savephillyjobs.com, to press their slogan, "Philly Jobs. Not Taxes."
"If the mayor was successful in passing this new bill, I believe we will lose about 50 percent of our members in soda today, because less sales equals less volume, and less volume means loss of jobs," said Danny Grace, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 830.
About 1,500 of his members work distributing soda, he said, including those at the Coca-Cola bottling plant at 725 E. Erie Ave, the Pepsi plant on Roosevelt Boulevard, and at Canada Dry Delaware Valley in Pennsauken.
Fifty percent, huh?
Half?
Really?
No one, so far, has bothered to point out that the coke plant in question is a giant regional supplier – and that you'd probably have to have a tax covering the entire northeastern United States to make much of a difference there.
(I'm not, by the way, sold on the soda tax yet myself. The science linking higher beverage prices with less consumption is sound, but the tax, as its written now, doesn't force retailers to increase the price of their sugary beverages. If they wind up distributing the cost to all of their products, it doesn't work, I think.)
But come on: if the media's going to quote such claims, let's check whether there's a shred of truth behind them.
Joe the Coke Bottler is probably a long way from having to worry about this tax. It's King Sugar (not to mention the ambitious Prince Corn Syrup) who fears it – and who bellows from atop his pile of gold: "Philly Jobs! Not Taxes!"
Let us know when you finalize your opinion on the soda tax. Philadelphia cannot go on until we know.
Haha! I will, aLex, I will. Sorry to keep you waiting, Philadelphia. - I
I really don't' think the soda tax will actually help anything, it was a nice thought though ;) thanks for posting!
Check your facts....this article doesnt make sense- there will def be some impact on the people who go to work everyday. whether is a small business, restaurant or bottler.
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