Taxes
Teamsters to Pro-Soda Tax Lawmakers: No More Campaign Money For You
What do special interest groups want for their campaign donations? Are they looking for favors, access, or just a sympathetic ear? Most of the time, voters can only speculate (and worry) about the answers […]
Meet the Dark Money Forces Behind Philly’s Soda Tax
Mayor Jim Kenney defeated Big Soda this month, successfully convincing City Council to pass an historic tax on sugary drinks and diet beverages that will enable thousands […]
The Soda Tax Battle’s Biggest Winners and Losers
One of the longest and most expensive political wars in recent Philadelphia history has come to an end. On Thursday, City Council voted 13-4 to enact a tax on […]
Beverage Lobby Spends Whopping $700K on Last-Minute Ad Blitz Against Soda Tax
City Council is expected to approve a tax on sugary drinks and diet beverages Thursday, making Philadelphia the biggest city in the country with a […]
Kudos to City Council for Standing Up to the Powerful Soda Lobby
(Editor’s note: This is an opinion column from guest writer Rev. James Hall Jr. Hall is the pastor of Triumph Baptist Church in Germantown.) Philadelphia […]
How Jim Kenney’s Big Soda Tax Victory Is Upending City Hall
For years, Philadelphians saw government dysfunction everywhere they looked. In City Hall, former Mayor Michael Nutter was so impotent that he couldn’t persuade a single Council […]
Will Philly’s Soda Tax Make Coca-Cola the Next Philip Morris?
In 1973, Arizona became the first state in America to restrict smoking in some public places. Four years later, Berkeley, Calif., became the first city in the […]
Council Demanding Answers on Use of Soda Tax Funds
Mayor Jim Kenney’s push to pass a soda tax in Philadelphia, which could culminate next week with a City Council vote on a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax […]
Philly Soda Tax Gets Thumbs-Up From Council
Mayor Jim Kenney is now one step away from securing a major first-term victory, after a City Council committee voted Wednesday evening to approve a new tax on […]
Fetterman: Stop Calling the Soda Tax “Regressive” — It’s Actually Progressive
(Editor’s note: This is an opinion column from guest writers John and Gisele Fetterman. John is the mayor of Braddock, Pa., and a former candidate for […]
The No-Bullshit Guide to the Fight Over the Philly Soda Tax
For the third time in less than 10 years, Philadelphia City Council is reaching the end of a debate on whether to impose a tax on […]
Now Council’s Considering a Property Tax Hike to Pay for Pre-K
Councilwoman Cindy Bass said on Tuesday that her office is working on a bill that would raise the property tax rate in Philadelphia, as City Council […]
Council Privately Discusses Taxing Diet Soda, Too
City Council President Darrell Clarke is still trying to find the sweet spot when it comes to Mayor Jim Kenney’s proposed three-cents-per-ounce soda tax. The […]
Council’s Convoluted Container Tax Policy
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown introduced an intriguing bill on Thursday. After proposing a container tax last week as an alternative to Mayor Jim Kenney’s suggested soda tax, […]