Nolte: Seattle Soda Tax Backfires by Boosting Beer Sales

Seattle’s backfiring soda tax is more proof that today’s Democrats are extremists more concerned with moral satisfaction than outcomes.

Defunding the police, bail reform, and backing Black Lives Matter feels good — especially when you don’t live in the neighborhoods ravaged by violent crime — but the outcome has been a huge pile of human misery.

Low-income housing feels good, especially when you don’t live in the neighborhoods watching their property values and quality of life implode.

Masking kindergarteners feels good, especially when you don’t have to wear a mask at the Oscars and Super Bowl.

Backing destructive teachers’ unions feels good, especially when your kids go to ritzy private schools.

You get the gist, and here we go again in Seattle, where a lunatic attempt to manipulate human nature not only backfired, it made things worse.

Per a new study:

This study found that following the implementation of the Seattle SBT [Sweetened Beverage Tax], there was a sustained increase in the volume sold of beer in Seattle relative to the comparison site of Portland, reflected in a 5% and 7% increase in the respective one- and two-year post-tax periods. At one-year post-tax there was no significant change in volume sold of wine, but in the two-year post-tax period volume sold of wine in Seattle relative to Portland fell slightly by 3%. In terms of overall changes in total alcohol sold, measured in this study by beer and wine, the decrease in volume sold of wine partly offset the larger increase in volume sold of beer in year two with a net increase of 5% in total alcohol volume sold in the second year following the implementation of the SBT.

The result in this study of a significant sustained increase in volume sold of beer following the implementation of the Seattle SBT suggests that SSBs [Sugar-Sweetend Beverages] and beer are substitutes.

“Overall,” the study concludes, “alcohol (both beer and wine) volume sold increased in Seattle compared to Portland by 4% … at one-year post-tax and by 5% … at two-years post-tax.”

And since this tax was supposedly implemented to improve public health and fight obesity, it should be noted that at 16 ounces, the average soda contains 187 calories, the average beer contains 195 calories, and the average wine contains nearly 400 calories.

What’s more, on top of the additional calories, there’s the alcohol factor, which can exacerbate social problems soda does not: car accidents, violence, addiction, etc.

The Seattle soda tax — which adds $1.18 to the cost of a two-liter bottle, 28 cents to a 16 ounce can, and a whopping $3.36 to a 12-pack of soda — passed by the City Council 7-1 in 2017.

So people responded by turning to alcohol. And this had nothing to do with the pandemic. The study covered February through November of 2018 and 2019.

Democrats refuse to leave people alone, especially poor people who this tax hit the hardest. Fruit juices weren’t taxed, and there’s plenty of sugar in fruit. The syrup used in your Starbucks latte wasn’t taxed. Nope, just soda and Gatorade and other drinks favored by the great unwashed.

A veto-proof majority of the Seattle City Council backed a proposal Thursday to defund the Seattle Police Department by 50% — including a proposal to remove 911 dispatchers from police control and to “imagine life beyond policing.” https://t.co/fQ4bs5Kri6

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 10, 2020

You see, Democrats don’t like the way we choose to live our lives, don’t like the fact we get our sugar from Pepsi instead of Starbucks, so we’re punished.

I should add that I’m a bit of a health nut — diet and regular exercise and all that. But that’s my lifestyle choice. That’s how I choose to live my life. The idea of using the government to force my lifestyle on others is revolting and fascist. The whole idea of America is that the government is supposed to protect the way we choose to live our own lives, not micromanage and attempt to manipulate our lives.

Besides, as you can see in this study, it doesn’t work. It never works!

I’m all for educating about health and the transparency of nutrition labels. But keep in mind that science and government get a lot wrong when it comes to nutrition. Remember when salt and coffee were killers? How many people deprived themselves needlessly thanks to that junk science?

We should be teaching moderation and then allow people to make their own choices.

Tolerance is not a one-way street. Tolerance means tolerating the way the other fella chooses to live his life.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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