Beverage cos. aim to take fizz out of soda tax measures

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Soda taxes may stop popping up in California and elsewhere, thanks to a new push by the beverage industry to fight such measures.

California lawmakers passed a bill to ban local taxes on soda for the next 12 years yesterday and sent it to Gov. Jerry Brown, who hasn’t explicitly said if he’ll sign it. It follows similar bans recently passed in Arizona and Michigan. The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and others, has backed the statewide bans after several cities passed taxes on sugary drinks in recent years.

Voters in Oregon will decide on a similar statewide ban in November.

The California bill would not affect four local soda taxes that were passed in the state in recent years.

It’s part of a last-minute deal to block a beverage industry-backed ballot measure that would make it much harder for cities and counties to raise taxes of any kind. The ABA said in a statement the legislation is about keeping groceries, including drinks, affordable.

Both legislative chambers approved the proposal despite deep reluctance among lawmakers.

“This industry is aiming a nuclear weapon at government in California and saying, ‘If you don’t do what we want we are going to pull the trigger and you are not going to be able to fund basic government services,’” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, which has a soda tax.