Coke, Pepsi step up spending after being targeted by healthcare reform tax

[babylonsister]

Coke, Pepsi step up spending after being targeted by healthcare reform tax
By Jeffrey Young - 11/26/09 01:01 PM ET


Coke, Pepsi and other soda makers super-sized their lobbying spending this year because of their anxiety about healthcare reform.

The cause of their consternation was a proposal, floated in both the House and Senate, to levy a new excise tax on sugary drinks. At around 3 cents per 12 ounces of soda or similar drinks, such a tax could raise $24 billion over 10 years to help pay for healthcare reform.

“It’s safe to say it’s one of the biggest public policy threats the company has ever seen,” said Galen Reser, vice president of North American government affairs in the Washington office of PepsiCo.

Neither the healthcare bill that passed the House this month nor the measure the Senate will take up in December includes the soda tax, as the panels with jurisdiction on taxes didn’t include it in their healthcare bills.

Still, proponents of taxes on soda and alcohol view the upcoming Senate floor debate as a new opportunity, particularly because so many Democrats want to amend the bill with more generous health benefits, lower other news taxes or minimize spending cuts in Medicare.

more...

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/69561-coke-pepsi-step-up-spending-after-being-targeted-by-tax

[WCGreen]

1. I think it a wonderful idea....

They shoud tax fast food as well

[dsc]

2. unless this tax is included with on that falls primarily upon the rich

I would also be opposed.

[katmondoo]

3. I have never liked soda even as a kid

My friends would drink a coke after school and I would never join them. To this day I won't touch the stuff.It always amazed me to see people drinking those huge containers of coke. How their stomachs could take it is beyond me.