Philly Admits Soda Tax Is Crushing Local Small Businesses, Expanding "Food Deserts"

T

ThunderThor

They never learn and their ignorant voters or just plain dumb voters, continue to put these clowns right back into office to their own detriment .

But but but but but Melania's shoes , LOL brainwashed dummies .


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Philly Admits Soda Tax Is Crushing Local Small Businesses, Expanding "Food Deserts"

Oct 19, 2017 8:35 PM

Soda Tax Fizzles In Chicago As Cook County Officials Cast Decisive 15-1 Repeal Vote), it seems that Philadelphia's flirtations with forming a more perfect "nanny state" via the elimination of sugary drinks could be on a collision course with a similar fate.

As WHYY points out today, a survey conducted by Philadelphia's Controller Alan Butkovitz — a longtime opponent of the soda tax — found that nine out of 10 businesses reported revenue loss since the city’s sweetened beverage tax took effect earlier this year. Of those reporting revenue loss, 60% of them blamed the soda tax for their woes.



City Controller Alan Butkovitz today released the results of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax survey that found more than 60 percent of businesses indicated a revenue loss as a direct result of the new tax.



Of the 650 businesses that reported a decline in year-to-year revenue, more than 400 attributed “most” or “all” of the decline to the implementation of the Beverage Tax. The majority of these businesses reported revenue losses of more than 10 percent.



“The overwhelming majority of businesses that carry products subject to the Philadelphia Beverage Tax feel a significant impact as a result of the tax,” said Controller Butkovitz. “The tax has had detrimental effects.”



Butkovitz’s team, with help from various business groups, reached out to “more than 1,600” businesses that sell or sold taxed beverages. Response was purely voluntary, and 741 businesses filled out questionnaires.



“This is not going to be the comprehensive answer to everything, but I think it does create a serious warning and an attestation of what has been stated by a number of the businesses,” he said during a Monday news conference. “Because I think the administration has minimized and ridiculed the idea that businesses are fighting for survival.”

To our great 'shock', many Philadelphia grocers reported that customers were simply driving to the suburbs to do their weekly shopping which means that local retailers lost not only their soda sales but everything else as well.



And, as usual, the Office of the Controller noted that this latest misinformed regulatory overstep by Philly's liberal elites is most detrimental to the very same people it was intended to help, namely low-income, inner-city families who can't afford to travel to the suburbs for groceries and who are about to get crushed with higher prices following a wave of business failures.



According to Controller Butkovitz, the areas with the most businesses reporting revenue losses included West Philadelphia along the Market Street and 52nd Street corridors (19139), Hunting Park in North Philadelphia (19140), and areas around Juniata and Frankford (19124). Many businesses in these neighborhoods reported losses of more than 10 percent.



“Consequently, these zipcodes have neighborhoods with some of the highest poverty rates in the city,” said Controller Butkovitz. “These businesses cannot afford a one percent loss in business – let alone more than 10 percent.



“These are also neighborhoods subject to food deserts in Philadelphia. If these stores cannot continue to operate, it will be even more difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.”



Grocery stores reported the most revenue losses followed by convenience stores and restaurants. Forty percent of businesses indicated they would have to make significant changes to keep their doors open.



"The tax seems to be impacting behavior and orientation toward the future,” said Controller Butkovitz. “Many business owners seem apprehensive about the viability of their enterprises in the near and medium term."

Of course, facts have never really had much impact on political discourse in the past so absent an uprising from local business owners, similar to what we saw recently in Chicago, we wouldn't suggest holding your breadth while waiting for a repeal.


Number of Businesses thatReported Revenue Decreases



1-6b4f6240aa.png


BEVERAGE TAX SURVEY
PHILADELPHIA BUSINESSES RESPOND:


“Down 80% loss in beverage sales. People are going outside of thecity. We are right near City Line. There is no tax across the street.
”- Corner Store 19131

“Customers are complaining and arguing with myemployees which has cost me to call the police forassistance.”
- Corner Store 19124

“People are buying more water.”
- Corner Store 19123


No change. People order what they want. They accept the tax.
”- Restaurant 19102

“After 33 years business is up for sale. Fees on businesses inPhiladelphia are out of control. People are going right acrossthe border.”
- Retail Store 19151

“Business is very slim. Loss 70% of the business. At the presenttime ordering 4 or 5 cases a week; before it was 10 to 15 cases.”
- Grocery Store 19140

“We have found consumers leave the area to shop inlocal suburbs so they can avoid the sugar tax. This hasimpacted sales of fresh meats, groceries, sandwichesand luncheon meats.”
- Grocery Store 19152
2-d8d60ec5f9.jpg
2-d8d60ec5f9.jpg


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-17/philly-admits-soda-tax-crushing-local-small-businesses
 
ThunderThor said:
They never learn and their ignorant voters or just plain dumb voters, continue to put these clowns right back into office to their own detriment .

But but but but but Melania's shoes , LOL brainwashed dummies .


-----------------------------------------------------
Philly Admits Soda Tax Is Crushing Local Small Businesses, Expanding "Food Deserts"

Oct 19, 2017 8:35 PM

Soda Tax Fizzles In Chicago As Cook County Officials Cast Decisive 15-1 Repeal Vote), it seems that Philadelphia's flirtations with forming a more perfect "nanny state" via the elimination of sugary drinks could be on a collision course with a similar fate.

As WHYY points out today, a survey conducted by Philadelphia's Controller Alan Butkovitz — a longtime opponent of the soda tax — found that nine out of 10 businesses reported revenue loss since the city’s sweetened beverage tax took effect earlier this year. Of those reporting revenue loss, 60% of them blamed the soda tax for their woes.



City Controller Alan Butkovitz today released the results of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax survey that found more than 60 percent of businesses indicated a revenue loss as a direct result of the new tax.



Of the 650 businesses that reported a decline in year-to-year revenue, more than 400 attributed “most” or “all” of the decline to the implementation of the Beverage Tax. The majority of these businesses reported revenue losses of more than 10 percent.



“The overwhelming majority of businesses that carry products subject to the Philadelphia Beverage Tax feel a significant impact as a result of the tax,” said Controller Butkovitz. “The tax has had detrimental effects.”



Butkovitz’s team, with help from various business groups, reached out to “more than 1,600” businesses that sell or sold taxed beverages. Response was purely voluntary, and 741 businesses filled out questionnaires.



“This is not going to be the comprehensive answer to everything, but I think it does create a serious warning and an attestation of what has been stated by a number of the businesses,” he said during a Monday news conference. “Because I think the administration has minimized and ridiculed the idea that businesses are fighting for survival.”

To our great 'shock', many Philadelphia grocers reported that customers were simply driving to the suburbs to do their weekly shopping which means that local retailers lost not only their soda sales but everything else as well.



And, as usual, the Office of the Controller noted that this latest misinformed regulatory overstep by Philly's liberal elites is most detrimental to the very same people it was intended to help, namely low-income, inner-city families who can't afford to travel to the suburbs for groceries and who are about to get crushed with higher prices following a wave of business failures.



According to Controller Butkovitz, the areas with the most businesses reporting revenue losses included West Philadelphia along the Market Street and 52nd Street corridors (19139), Hunting Park in North Philadelphia (19140), and areas around Juniata and Frankford (19124). Many businesses in these neighborhoods reported losses of more than 10 percent.



“Consequently, these zipcodes have neighborhoods with some of the highest poverty rates in the city,” said Controller Butkovitz. “These businesses cannot afford a one percent loss in business – let alone more than 10 percent.



“These are also neighborhoods subject to food deserts in Philadelphia. If these stores cannot continue to operate, it will be even more difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.”



Grocery stores reported the most revenue losses followed by convenience stores and restaurants. Forty percent of businesses indicated they would have to make significant changes to keep their doors open.



"The tax seems to be impacting behavior and orientation toward the future,” said Controller Butkovitz. “Many business owners seem apprehensive about the viability of their enterprises in the near and medium term."

Of course, facts have never really had much impact on political discourse in the past so absent an uprising from local business owners, similar to what we saw recently in Chicago, we wouldn't suggest holding your breadth while waiting for a repeal.


Number of Businesses thatReported Revenue Decreases



1-6b4f6240aa.png


BEVERAGE TAX SURVEY
PHILADELPHIA BUSINESSES RESPOND:


“Down 80% loss in beverage sales. People are going outside of thecity. We are right near City Line. There is no tax across the street.
”- Corner Store 19131

“Customers are complaining and arguing with myemployees which has cost me to call the police forassistance.”
- Corner Store 19124

“People are buying more water.”
- Corner Store 19123


No change. People order what they want. They accept the tax.
”- Restaurant 19102

“After 33 years business is up for sale. Fees on businesses inPhiladelphia are out of control. People are going right acrossthe border.”
- Retail Store 19151

“Business is very slim. Loss 70% of the business. At the presenttime ordering 4 or 5 cases a week; before it was 10 to 15 cases.”
- Grocery Store 19140

“We have found consumers leave the area to shop inlocal suburbs so they can avoid the sugar tax. This hasimpacted sales of fresh meats, groceries, sandwichesand luncheon meats.”
- Grocery Store 19152
2-d8d60ec5f9.jpg
2-d8d60ec5f9.jpg


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-17/philly-admits-soda-tax-crushing-local-small-businesses
More...
In a democracy, the people usually get the government they deserve.
 
UsualName said:
Who would’ve thunk it, soda is the keystone of the Philadelphia economy.

Wait until the nicotine in cigarettes is reduced to non addictive levels, the entire nation will fall into a depression.
More...
Your next intelligent post will be your first one.
 
It is on its way to becoming another shit hole like Detroit .

MSM and Lunatic Liberals --> But but but but but Melania's shoes.....

LMAO


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Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform,



Every Democrat politician in Philly is a dirtbag. The Federal Prison has an entire wing dedicated just for crooked Philly politicians.



But this scumbag takes the cake.



His blatant corruption is outrageous even for a Philly Democrat. This low-life scum sucking prick even stole his own mother’s social security and pension money to pay his expenses.



This guy is representative of the Democrat politicians running this city.

D.A. Seth Williams indicted on corruption, bribery-related charges
Authored by a 23-count indictment charging the two-term Democrat in a sprawling corruption case.



Investigators accused the city’s cash-strapped top prosecutor of repeatedly selling his influence and offering to intervene in a case on behalf of one wealthy benefactor. In exchange, they said, Williams accepted luxury trips to foreign locales, a used Jaguar convertible, and other gifts including a $205 Louis Vuitton necktie and a Burberry watch.

When that was not enough to cover the costs of his lush life, Williams allegedly resorted to stealing from his own mother, draining more than $20,000 of Social Security and pension income intended to pay for her nursing home to cover his mortgage and electricity bills.



“The alleged misconduct … is brazen and wide-ranging, as is the idea that a district attorney would so cavalierly trade on elected office for financial gain,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Michael Harpster said at an afternoon news conference announcing the charges. “The immense authority vested to law enforcement has to be kept in check, and that requires decision-makers and leaders with a steady ethical compass.”

The criminal case brought to a head rumors that have dogged Williams for years and put a damning footnote on his eight-year career in office, which began in 2010 with accolades for sweeping changes he promised to implement within the city’s justice system, only to be overshadowed more recently by a series of scandals.

As he announced his decision last month to forgo a reelection bid, Williams, 50, apologized for bringing “embarrassment and shame” to the District Attorney’s Office through repeated ethical lapses and vowed to win back the trust of the public and his employees.

But hours after Tuesday’s indictment, Williams offered no indication whether he now intended to resign. His lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, vowed that Williams would fight the charges in court.



“Mr. Williams vehemently denies that he ever compromised any investigation, case, or law enforcement function,” he said.

Sources familiar with the course of the investigation said Williams rejected a plea deal from prosecutors earlier this week. He spent the day at home with his family, an office spokesman said, and was expected to surrender and be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Inside Williams’ office of 300 prosecutors, the allegations hit like a bomb. In an internal memo, his top deputy, Kathleen Martin, assured the staff that the office was cooperating with the investigation and that no other employees had been accused of wrongdoing.



“I understand and appreciate that you may be angry and frustrated with the unwanted spotlight placed upon our office, emotions that you are certainly justified in feeling,” she wrote.

Outside, the city’s political and legal leaders offered swift condemnation.

Mayor Kenney called Williams’ alleged actions “deeply shameful” and a “flagrant violation of the law.”



“At a time when our citizens’ trust in government is at an all-time low, it is disheartening to see yet another elected official give the public a reason not to trust us,” the mayor said in a statement. “That this comes at the head of our justice system is even more troubling.”

Deborah R. Gross, chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, called for Williams to step aside immediately.



“The charges against him cast a shadow on the District Attorney’s Office, our legal community, and the entire City of Philadelphia. It truly is an embarrassment,” she said.

The case against Williams, which involves charges of honest services fraud and other bribery-related counts, hardly came as a surprise.

...

Williams’ prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey, after Justice Department officials in Philadelphia recused themselves because of their frequent collaboration with the District Attorney’s Office.

Read more here...
http://www.philly.com/philly/column...r-Philly-DA-Seth-Williams-and-his-office.html

by @ByChrisBrennan | brennac@phillynews.com


What happens next for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and his office?


RELATED COVERAGE


If Williams had been charged Tuesday in an “information,” meaning he had struck a deal with federal prosecutors, he would likely have resigned from office as part of the agreement.

But Williams now faces a 23-count bribery and corruption indictment, which suggests he intends to fight the charges in court.


That means the city’s top prosecutor can hang on to his job, for now.


And Williams, who has repeatedly cited his troubled personal finances as the source of his problems while denying that he broke any laws, likely cannot afford to give up his $175,572-per-year salary.

Williams, through an office spokesman, declined to comment Tuesday when asked if he would remain in his post.

There is precedent for a prosecutor charged with a crime staying on the job. Not that Williams would enjoy the comparison.

Former state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane remained in office after she was charged in a Montgomery County presentment in 2015.

Williams and Kane had long clashed publicly, in part over her decision to drop corruption cases against elected officials from Philadelphia and Williams’ decision to revive the cases and bring charges.

Kane refused to resign while facing trial, even though the state Supreme Court had suspended her law license. Kane contended -- and the high court agreed -- that she did not need an active law license to run the office, arguing that her role was largely administrative.

She was convicted of perjury, obstruction, and other crimes in August 2016 and then resigned.

The state constitution requires elected officials to resign upon sentencing if convicted of a felony.

In an interview Tuesday, law professor Bruce Ledewitz, of Duquesne University, predicted that the state disciplinary board for lawyers would recommend to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that it suspend Williams' law license, as it did Kane's, and that the high court would agree.

Still, like Kane, Williams could keep serving even with a suspended license, according to Ledewitz, as well as election-law experts and lawyers Adam Bonin and Gregory M. Harvey. State law merely requires that district attorneys be admitted to practice law for one year before taking office.

Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who oversaw the Williams case from his New Jersey office, declined to comment on the district attorney's future during a Tuesday afternoon news conference, where the charges were detailed.

"That's not for me to say," Fitzpatrick said.

If Williams resigns, his first assistant would become acting district attorney until Philadelphia's 80 or so Common Pleas Court judges select a replacement.

State law requires the judges to make a pick “if any vacancy shall occur, either by death, resignation, or removal from office” until the next general election, which is set for Nov. 7

Williams’ first deputy, Tariq El-Shabazz, resigned last month after his boss announced that he was dropping his bid for a third term in office. El-Shabazz is now one of seven candidates in the May 16 Democratic primary election for district attorney.

Williams on Thursday named Kathleen Martin, his chief of staff, as his new acting first assistant.

The judges are due to meet next on May 18, two days after the primary, but could be called to a special meeting before that.

The last time the judges had to select a new district attorney was 1991, when they selected one of their own, Lynne M. Abraham, to fill a vacancy created when Ronald D. Castille stepped down to run for mayor.

Abraham was a mentor to Williams early in his career as an assistant district attorney. That relationship soured when he resigned to challenge her in the 2005 Democratic primary. He lost that race but won in 2009, when Abraham did to not seek reelection.

Staff writer Craig R. McCoy contributed to this article.

 
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MSM and Lunatic Liberals --> But but but but but Melania's shoes.....


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Philadelphia City Attorney Linked To Anti-Trump Grafitti



Philadelphia police have launched an investigation into an assistant city attorney in connection with anti-Trump graffiti found on the side of an upscale supermarket in Chestnut Hill on November 25th, according to the Inquirer; meanwhile an angry local Republican Party wants him fired.

Surveillance footage released overnight, shows two men walking along in Chestnut Hill, around midnight on Friday by the Fresh Market located at 8200 Germantown Avenue. One wears a blue blazer, khakis and a rakishly-tied scarf, and carries a glass of wine. What at first appeared like a calm end to a night out in an upscale part of the city, changed when the second man was seen spray painting a message on the wall of a newly-constructed grocery store: "Fuck Trump."





The damage is estimated at between $3,000 and $10,000.

While the sprayer remains unidentified, the man in the blazer turns out to be Assistant City Solicitor Duncan Lloyd. No charges have been filed and as of Wednesday evening, the city was awaiting more information before taking any administrative action.

According to Philly.com, First Deputy City Solicitor Craig Straw confirmed Lloyd, who has worked for the law department since 2011, is one of two men in the video. "We do not condone this type of behavior from our employees," Straw said. "To my knowledge, Mr. Lloyd has already contacted the Philadelphia Police and is cooperating with them. We will decide on a course of action once we obtain more information about the investigation."

Lloyd, 32, is a University of Pennsylvania and Temple's Beasley School of Law graduated, according to his Linkedin page and makes $63,207 a year, representing the city mostly in federal and state discrimination lawsuits. On his Linkedin page he wrote of the job, "As a result of these responsibilities, I hear the craziest stories - ones regularly driven by the unreasonable mores of lust, anger, passion, and envy."

This incident is hardly news: The Inquirer reports that since election day, anti-Trump graffiti has been reported throughout the city. In early November, spray-painted swastikas, racist graffiti and references to Donald Trump and Nazi Germany appeared in South Philadelphia. Anti-Trump graffiti has been reported on bus shelters and on the exterior wall of City Hall, where "Not my President," was spray painted and removed Nov. 12. Mayor Kenney has denounced the destruction of property, which mirrors similar incidents nationwide. However, on no prior occasions was the alleged perpetrator dumb enough to be a public servant calmly drinking wine while on closed-circuit camera.

* * *

To Lloyd the graffiti incident may have seemed like a childish prank, but the chair of the Philadelphia Republican Party, Joe DeFelice, is out for blood demanding his immediate firing. In a statement released this afternoon, DeFelice said the following:



“If the image of an upper-middle class city attorney clad in a blazer and sipping wine while vandalizing an upscale grocery store with an anti-Trump message strikes you as perhaps the most bourgeois sight imaginable, that’s because it is. Nothing can better represent the hysterical pearl-clutching of the ‘progressive’ elite in response to this earth-shattering election, when residents of Chestnut Hill and similar neighborhoods across the country discovered – gasp – that other people have a voice too. The assistant city solicitor in question had ostensibly taken the law into his own hands, since a democratic election didn’t yield his preferred outcome.



“For somebody with extensive legal training to feel entitled to vandalize a newly opened super-market strikes us at the Philadelphia Republican Party as an astonishing feat of idiocy. Did the extra glass of Shiraz give him some sort of delusional confidence that there are no cameras on Germantown Ave? The taxpayers should be entrusting exactly none of our faith into this man. He should be fired from our city’s law department immediately.”

No arrests, or terminations, have been made so far.
 
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MSM and Lunatic Liberals --> But but but but but Melania's shoes.....



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More Bad News For Philadelphia: Obamacare Premiums Set To Soar More Than 50%

Yesterday the Obama administration confirmed what many Americans already knew: the monetary pressures imposed by Obamacare on the middle class are becoming unmanageable as a result of the average Obamacare premium set to spike by 25%, or hundreds of dollars of formerly disposable income that will be redirected to what is effectively a tax. However, in some states - especially those where the so-called recovery has failed to keep pace - such as Pennsylvania, the sticker shock will be far greater.

As CBS Philadelphia reports, when the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period begins next week customers will see some changes, including fewer choices and higher prices. In Pennsylvania, the number of insurers in the marketplace has gone from 13 to eight.

But the worst fate is set to befall the city that famously booed Santa Claus, Philadelphia, where CBS reports that just two insurers are left and premiums are expected to rise 53%.

Aviva Aron-Dine of Health and Human Services says the size of the hike reflects artificially low rates early on. Pennsylvania had among the lowest rates in the nation. “Issuers were pricing for a completely new market, one where they could no longer exclude those with the most serious health needs,” she said, “many set prices that turned out to be too low.”

To be sure, the administration had to spin this dramatic surge in a way that does not upset the locals, and did just that when Aron-Dine said that "the plans are still affordable, since three-quarters of Pennsylvanians qualify for tax credits."

“Not only do tax credits bring down the cost of coverage, they adjust dollar for dollar with the cost of the benchmark plan in your area,” she explained. “So even if the cost of benchmark coverage goes up, most consumers will not have to pay more. Aron-Dine claims costs could even go down if consumers take the time to shop for a cheaper plan. She says new features on the healthcare.gov website will make that easier to do.

It remains to be seen if any of the locals will accept this rationalization for soaring prices when they start getting invoices demanding hundreds of dollars more each month. As a reminder, Pennsylvania is one of the critical swing states which in recent weeks has been polling in Hillary Clinton's favor: it just may be that this "sticker shock" will flip the tables once again.
 
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Now the people are losing jobs due to the commie fascist politicians.

I guess the voters deserve it,being they voted these clowns into office.

MSM and Lunatic Liberals --> But but but but but Melania's shoes.....

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Pepsi Lays Off 20% Of Its Philadelphia Workers, Blames Soda Tax



Two weeks ago, we pointed out that when Philadelphia became the first US city to pass a soda tax last summer, city officials were eagerly looking forward to the surplus-tax funded windfall to plug gaping budget deficits (and, since this is Philadelphia, the occasional embezzlement scheme). Then, one month ago, after the tax went into effect on January 1st we showed the tax applied in practice: a receipt for a 10 pack of flavored water carried a 51% beverage tax. And since PA has a sales tax of 6% and Philly already charges another 2%, the total sales tax was 8%. In other words, a purchase which until last year came to $6.47 had overnight become $9.75.



What happened next? Precisely what most expected would happen: full blown sticker shock, and a collapse in purchases. Just two months into the city’s sweetened-beverage tax, supermarkets and distributors are reporting a 30% to 50% drop in beverage sales and - adding insult to injury - had started planning for layoffs.

Fast forward just a few days later, when these warnings are becoming reality. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, with sales slumping as much as 40% because of the new Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax, Pepsi said last week that it will lay off 80 to 100 workers at three distribution plants that serve the city. And since Pepsi employs 423 people in the city, it means that as much as 20% of its employees will be out of job due to a disastrous ordnance that was meant to provide additional municipal funding and instead will now lead to an increase in unemployment, coupled with a general decline in consumption, not to mention tax revenues for the city of Philadelphia.

The bottling giant sent out notices last Wednesday and said the layoffs would be spread over the next few months. "The layoffs come in response to the beverage tax, which has cut sales by 40 percent in the city, PepsiCo Inc." spokesman Dave DeCecco said. “Unfortunately, after careful consideration of the economic realities created by the recently enacted beverage tax, we have been forced to give notice that we intend to eliminate 80 to 100 positions, including frontline and supervisory roles,” DeCecco said.

The layoffs will occur at plants in North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, and Wilmington. The plants are run as independent businesses required to report profits and losses to the company.

City hall was, predictably, livid: mayor Jim Kenney's administration lambasted the news, pointing to Pepsi's overall profits and the benefits of the expanded pre-K program that the 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax funds. Kenney said the tax, which was aimed at paying for nearly 2,000 pre-kindergarten slots and other programs, raised $5.7 million in January, more than double what city officials had projected. As of this week, the program also has created 251 jobs in the city, mostly full-time pre-K teaching positions, the city said. There is just one problem with that math: the offset to the newly created jobs is 100 jobs lost at just one company, which means that the job losses from the soda tax will eclipse any pre-K job creation by the time the full impact of the soda tax ripples through the city's retailers.

So with math clearly not the city's strong suit, it promptly reverted to what it is far stronger at: pandering.

“The soda industry sunk to a new low today,” city spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said. “They are literally holding hostage the jobs of hard-working people in their battle to overturn the tax. Pepsi reported nearly $35 billion in gross income and $6 billion in profit last year.... The idea that they can afford to do that but ‘must lay off workers’ should make every Philadelphian very skeptical of whether these layoffs are actually due to the tax.”

Hitt also said the company and the rest of the beverage industry had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying against the tax. "The idea that they can afford to do that but 'must lay off workers' should make every Philadelphian very skeptical of whether these layoffs are actually due to the tax," she said.

Actually, yes they are, but what has become apparent is that was the city's hope that Pepsi would ignore losses at the regional level, and use profits from other geographic operations to subsidize Philadelphia's losses. Alas, that's not how capitalism works, and Philadelphia is starting to realize this and it is not happy.

Neither, for that matter, are Pepsi's employees. Outside of the North Philadelphia plant Wednesday, Ed Langdon, a 40-year employee who shuttles products between warehouses, said the cuts are the most drastic he's seen in his time at Pepsi according to Philly.com. Langdon, whose job is safe, said workers have been told the plant will decrease production of jugs of iced tea and canned soda.

"It's managers, it's drivers, it's people who go out and put the soda on the shelf. It's all across the board. It's everybody. I was sick last night when I heard," Langdon said. He also noted that the layoffs were seen coming from afar: some colleagues who are paid on commission were seeing drastic cuts in weekly pay. "The trucks are going out and they're coming back with the soda on it," he said. "No one's buying it. It's just not happening."

Desperate to save face with an increasingly angry population which has seen its soda prices soar due to mandatory local government intervention, just minutes after news of layoffs broke the city sent out a release announcing that its pre-K program has created 191 teaching positions and 60 support-staff jobs. The average pay for the positions, more than half of which are full time, is $14.72 an hour.

However, as we reported in late February, the Pepsi layoffs are just the tip of the iceberg. Recall that there were already numerous reports from bottlers and supermarkets of steep beverage sale declines since the tax went into effect in January. Last month, Canada Dry Delaware Valley said it would lay off 35 people due to declining sales. Jeff Brown, who owns six ShopRite stores in the city, said he’s had to slash employee hours and believes as many as 300 jobs could be cut. In other words, 250 jobs created and roughly double that already on the chopping block.

Meanwhile, Pepsi has explained to city hall what it can do to stem, and even reverse, the job losses: undo the tax.



DeCecco said the Pepsi jobs would be restored if the tax — currently under appeal and awaiting an April hearing — is struck down in court.



The city has pointed to higher-than-expected revenue numbers in the first month of collection, and restaurants who report being largely unaffected by the tax, to argue the industry could be exaggerating sales declines in an attempt to prevent the enactment of similar taxes in other cities or to gain a favorable outcome in court.

The Pepsi spokesman said there was nothing political about the layoff announcement, and in this particular case he is right: it is all about the bottom line.

“This isn't something we take lightly or want to do, and we are committed to working with our employees and the union to treat impacted individuals with the care and dignity they deserve,” he said.

Pepsi may end up winning as the tide of public opinion is starting to turn against the mayor. Anthony Campisi, a spokesman for a coalition of retailers, bottlers, and unions opposed to the tax, said it was unfair for the city to blame the companies for the job loss.

“It’s the mayor who’s to blame for the economic and human impact of the tax,” Campisi said. “And its offensive to blame the impact on Philadelphia businesses that are no longer sustainable because of it."

But the straw that just might break the municipal camel's back in the deeply democratic city would be if the Teamsters - the backbone of any democratic administration - cry bloody murder, which they are starting to do.

Danny Grace, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 830, which represents many of the employees affected, said in a statement: “Our worst fears have been realized today. ... This terrible news, although not surprising, is particularly disastrous for the members of Teamsters Local 830, who rely on a strong soda industry for their livelihoods.”

Will Philly's soda tax be the latest attempt by an intrusive local government, demanding an ever greater share of the pie, seeing its efforts blow up in its face, and will City hall have no choice but to reverse course handing the local retailers a quick victory? For now the stalemate remains, but a few thousands more layoffs, and Philly's soda tax experiment will promptly end up on the garbage pile of "brilliant" bureaucrat ideas gone badly wrong.
 
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