Blog: Facing repeal vote backer of Cook County soda tax admits it's not about health; it's about money
Toni Preckwinkle
Unfortunately for the driving force behind the soda tax imposed on Cook County   Illinois  Board president Toni Preckwinkle   the voters caught on  the industry sued (and were threatened over it)  and now county supervisors are to vote on repeal.
Suddenly  when push is to come to shove   Preckwinkle  has dropped the health issue and admits that it's all about the money. Andy Grimm of the Chicago Sun-Times:
[A] day ahead of making her budget address to a Board of Commissioners said to be lined up for a close vote on pulling back the county's penny-per-ounce tax on sodas and sweetened beverages   Preckwinkle  was not shy about saying what would happen without the estimated $200 million in tax revenue projected to come from the tax. "(We will) make significant cuts to public health and public safety  because that's where 87 percent of our money goes "  Preckwinkle  told reporters  following an unrelated press conference on criminal justice reform.
The tax narrowly passed last year with the president casting a tie-breaking vote. Furor over the tax  stoked in part by a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign by soda industry groups  reached a fever pitch this summer  when consumers around the county first saw the beverage tax tacked onto their grocery receipts.  Preckwinkle  reminded commissioners of the financial implications for the county if the tax is pulled back in a fiscal note sent out Friday  which said the county health system and public safety funds  which were slated to receive 75 percent of the new soda tax revenue. The lost revenue would require an 11-percent cut to those departments' budget  according to the memo.
 Preckwinkle  sweetened the deal by giving each commissioner control over $500 000 in gas tax revenue to spend on transportation projects in their districts.
Unfortunately for the driving force behind the soda tax imposed on Cook County   Illinois  Board president  [TGT]    the voters caught on  the industry sued (and were threatened over it)  and now county supervisors are to vote on repeal.
Suddenly  when push is to come to shove   Preckwinkle  has dropped the health issue and admits that it's all about the money. Andy Grimm of the Chicago Sun-Times:
[A] day ahead of making her budget address to a Board of Commissioners said to be lined up for a close vote on pulling back the county's penny-per-ounce tax on sodas and sweetened beverages   Preckwinkle  was not shy about saying what would happen without the estimated $200 million in tax revenue projected to come from the tax. "(We will) make significant cuts to public health and public safety  because that's where 87 percent of our money goes "  Preckwinkle  told reporters  following an unrelated press conference on criminal justice reform.
The tax narrowly passed last year with the president casting a tie-breaking vote. Furor over the tax  stoked in part by a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign by soda industry groups  reached a fever pitch this summer  when consumers around the county first saw the beverage tax tacked onto their grocery receipts.  Preckwinkle  reminded commissioners of the financial implications for the county if the tax is pulled back in a fiscal note sent out Friday  which said the county health system and public safety funds  which were slated to receive 75 percent of the new soda tax revenue. The lost revenue would require an 11-percent cut to those departments' budget  according to the memo.
 Preckwinkle  sweetened the deal by giving each commissioner control over $500 000 in gas tax revenue to spend on transportation projects in their districts.