Food & Beverage Litigation & Regulatory Update

Tag: tax

  • Denmark Taxes Foods High in Saturated Fats

    In a move garnering international attention, the Danish government has reportedly approved a new excise tax on butter, cream, cheese, and other foods that contain more than 2.3 percent saturated fat per total weight. According to the Copenhagen Post, the levy took effect October 1, 2011, and “amounts to a 16 kroner duty per solid kilo…

  • New Rudd Center Study Backs Soft Drink Tax

    Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released a new study claiming that “a penny per ounce” tax on sugar sweetened beverages “has the potential to reduce consumption and generate significant revenue.” Tatiana Andreyeva, et al., “Estimating the potential of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages to reduce consumption and generate revenue,” Preventive Medicine, April…

  • Proposed California Beverage Tax Falls Flat

    A proposed California bill (A.B. 669) that would have levied a state tax on sweetened beverages has reportedly died in a legislative committee. Sponsored by Assembly Member Bill Monning (D-Carmel), the proposed tax of 1 cent per fluid ounce on soft drinks, energy drinks, sweet teas, and other sugary beverages would have raised an estimated…

  • Republican Lawmakers Issue Report Critical of Some Stimulus Funding Projects

    Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have issued a report, “Summertime Blues,” in which they provide information about “100 stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues.” Among the projects is a $521,000 grant to the University of Illinois to study whether taxes on soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages can affect the incidence…

  • Business Leaders Take Aim at Food and Beverage Policies Posing Impediment to Growth

    In response to an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) request, the Business Roundtable and The Business Council have prepared a report with a list of laws and regulations that the nation’s business leaders reportedly believe “have a dampening effect on economic growth and job creation.” Among the business groups’ concerns are proposals that would affect…

  • Daniela Perdomo, “Big Soda Wants to Keep America Fat: Here’s How to Fight Back,” AlterNet, May 21, 2010

    AlterNet staff writer and editor Daniela Perdomo takes a look in this article at the money that the beverage industry is purportedly spending to oppose federal and state efforts to impose a tax on soft drinks. According to the article, the American Beverage Association increased its lobbying nearly 4,000 percent over the last quarter of…

  • Local Governments Fail to Pass Soft Drink Taxes

    According to news sources, both Philadelphia and the District of Columbia have failed to adopt taxes on sweetened beverages. Philadelphia’s mayor apparently never had a council majority to support his proposed soda tax and has now indicated that he will be forced to make cuts to police and fire department budgets and limit branch libraries to…

  • Tom Bartlett, “Step Away From the Coke Machine,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 4, 2010

    The Chronicle of Higher Education recently profiled Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and his decades-long advocacy of soft drink taxes, an idea that once attracted derision but today “doesn’t seem so radical.” The Chronicle notes “growing evidence of a link between price and consumption,” citing recent reports…