It will be cheaper to have a cold beer than a cold soda if New York’s governor has his way. It may not be a good beer, but beer nonetheless.
“A six-pack of soda is going to cost you approximately $4.99†if the penny-an-ounce tax goes through, Mr. Eusebio said, “where you can pick up beer from $2.99 to $3.99.â€
Off to the neighborhood supermarket, where it turned out that Mr. Eusebio’s math was not far off. With the tax, a six-pack of Coca-Cola or Pepsi would cost 2 cents more than a six-pack of the cheapest beer in the store.
It’s a crusade for cash to bridge the gap due to too much spending, and it’s been framed as a health initiative to tax people away from unhealthy beverages. It’s unclear what the next taxes on beer will be when there’s a upward spike in alcoholism.
“oh no, honey, I would really rather have a soda than beer tonight, but with the budget and the bills, well….”
And someone will, undoubtedly use that price gap to justify raising taxes on beer.
Wonderful idea. Now the cigarette smugglers will be able to fill in the left over space in their cigarettes smuggling semis with cases of coke.
Obesity continues to be a problem in NY mostly due to “illegal soda” being brougt in from states that don’t have our “common sense” soda taxes on the books.