Cook County Soda Tax: The Current Mess
by meep
A new lawsuit!
Lawsuit: Walgreens ‘wrongfully’ taxed unsweetened drinks
Walgreens has been improperly collecting Cook County’s new sweetened beverage tax on unsweetened drinks, according to a class action lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court.
Vince De Leon, a northwest suburban Schaumburg resident, filed the two-count suit on behalf of himself and anyone who has paid the new tax on an unsweetened drink at a Walgreens location. It alleges that Walgreens violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and was unjustly enriched by collecting the taxes.
The Sweetened Beverage Tax Ordinance went into effect on Aug. 2 and adds an extra penny-per-ounce tax to sugar-sweetened beverages, including everything from sodas to sweetened iced teas. The tax does not apply to unsweetened drinks such as bottled water, 100% juice and sparkling water.
Oh, and another lawsuit!
McDonald’s, Walgreens hit with lawsuits over Cook County soda pop tax
Two of the Chicago area’s biggest corporate names are being sued over allegedly bungling the rollout of Cook County’s new penny-per-ounce sweetened beverage tax, with Walgreens accused of taxing unsweetened beverages and McDonald’s accused of essentially taxing the tax.
Two of the Chicago area’s biggest corporate names are being sued over allegedly bungling the rollout of Cook County’s new penny-per-ounce sweetened beverage tax, with Walgreens accused of taxing unsweetened beverages and McDonald’s accused of essentially taxing the tax.
Both of these lawsuits are seeking class action status.
I wonder what the courts will do with these short-lived operational screw-ups.
THE RABBLE IS ROUSED
Preckwinkle comments:
Unsweetened sparkling water, like LaCroix, is NOT subject to the sweetened beverage tax. Don’t believe otherwise.
— Toni Preckwinkle (@ToniPreckwinkle) August 1, 2017
Oh, what’s this? People replying to Preckwinkle’s tweet. Hmmm.
This is going to be your big downfall. I will spend more to avoid this tax over paying one penny in cook county on this. Shame on you
— C (@candrson) August 1, 2017
In fact, that new TV you've been eyeing, well it's cheaper to buy in the collar counties. Sales tax is much lower.
— Frank Rosenburg (@FrankyRosen) August 1, 2017
Those two assertions are at odds, hence our collective angst.
— Lukas Murphy (@LukaSmurf) August 2, 2017
2/ where consumers will go out-of-county to do their shopping. I know I will do my best to do so.
— OrangeworkClock (@OrangeworkC) August 3, 2017
Because it is against the law to charge them per federal regs, read dnainfo article published about new tax has info in it about this
— Steven Spagnolo (@Spagnost) August 2, 2017
Booo to the tax. This is going to hurt small businesses and their employees and the families of the employees. #canthetax pic.twitter.com/hpR03GyYSA
— Rogers Park Chamber (@RogersParkCoC) August 2, 2017
And those on government benefits get a free pass, geez Toni, thanks for nothing. It's time we moved away from you CROOKS.
— Patrick DeHaan ⛽️ (@GasBuddyGuy) August 2, 2017
50% tax. Come to Cook County! pic.twitter.com/HQTvwJ63or
— Richard Robbins (@rbrobbi) August 3, 2017
PRECKWINKLE BACKS OFF
About Preckwinkle threatening to try to get $17 million out of the retailers who sued to stop the tax….
County Won’t Seek Millions In Soda-Tax Damages
Cook County government will no longer seeks $17 million in damages from a retail organization that temporarily stymied the new sweetened-beverage tax.
A spokesperson for Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle says now that the latest attempt to block the penny-an-ounce tax have been unsuccessful, it’s best to move on.
Maybe she saw the reaction the tax just by itself is getting, and thought to stop digging the political hole she’s in.
Or maybe she noticed that the court wasn’t too enamored with the idea when it was brought up in court.
The basis of the $17 million is supposedly how much the tax is to bring in per month.
Let’s see what it actually brings in, shall we? We’ll have to check back in in a few months… once the retailers finally figure out how to impose the tax.
SODA TAX VS BEER TAX
And here I am:
Not only is it the priciest soda tax, it's a lot more than the beer tax. In ILLINOIS.
— Mary Pat Campbell (@meepbobeep) August 7, 2017
I was responding to the fact check on the Cook County soda taxes. Yes, it’s the highest soda tax.
And it’s higher than alcohol taxes in many places.
You figure it out.
Here ya go — Bud is cheaper than Coke:
Is #Chicago driving you to drink? Two tall boys of
— Illinois Policy (@illinoispolicy) August 9, 2017Budweiser</a> are cheaper than two 20oz bottles of <a href="https://twitter.com/CocaCola">CocaCola https://t.co/2JYANKDrcs pic.twitter.com/yh1×0Tk5EA
I’m sure Budweiser is so much healthier than Coke.
Btw, a “tall boy” is 25 ounces (if you don’t see where that is on the receipt).
Here are calorie counts.
The Bud tallboy is 285 calories.
Oh, Bud actually does have fewer calories per ounce (11.4 cal per oz vs. 12 cal per oz.)
It’s totally rational!
TAX MAN TAXES FREE STUFF
Finally, “free” refills now cost 16 cents:
Cook County sweetened beverage tax applies to free refills of lemonade. pic.twitter.com/PDztyTDIBl
— ChiTrib Clout Street (@ChiTribCloutSt) August 2, 2017
RETAILERS: FORGET THIS, DRINK WATER
Some retailers have decided to short circuit the whole thing. This tax is operationally insane, not to mention really pissing off potential customers.
The low margin biz where a lot of this soda is sold is just saying — forget it.
CHICAGO — Tanya Triche Dawood, general counsel for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA), frets that the new, penny-per-ounce sweetened beverage tax in Cook County couldn’t have come at a worse time.
…..
Dawood said she already knows restaurants that have stopped selling fountain drinks from behind the counter and others that have ceased offering free refills since the tax officially went into effect on August 2.“Many of them can’t afford to eat this tax,” she said. “And in a lot instances, the process of trying to figure out how to collect on the new tax just becomes too complicated.”
IRMA appealed a lower court’s July 28 ruling to shoot down its request to stop the tax from taking effect, but that appeal has also been denied.
Dawood said retailers are expected to solve the added riddle of how they are suppose to collect the tax when customers make purchases with cards issued under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which are exempted by federal rules from sales and other local taxes.
“Retailers are being left to figure out how to get reimbursed, and it will cost them even more money as they’re forced to purchase new software to track purchases,” she said. “It’s a lot of money to have to spend just to be able to collect.”
While county officials have insisted that their primary motivation for enacting the tax is improving public health, several media outlets have reported the new legislation will raise as much as $200 million in added annual revenue.
Again, let’s see what actually gets collected.
If everybody just stops selling soda, then moral victory!
But I bet even if all the soda in the world disappeared, people would still be fat. (Says the non-soda-drinking fattie.)
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