Another Seattle success story.
Via NewsBusters:
The City of Seattle probably didn’t expect pushback from Costco, seen by many on the left as retail’s “anti-Walmart,” after its “sugary drink” tax of 1.75 cents per ounce went into effect January 1. But that is exactly what has happened.
In moves the national press, which largely supports such taxes, has thus far ignored, Costco is itemizing the built-in cost of the tax on its Seattle store’s shelf tags, and informing customers that they won’t pay the tax if they shop at one of two other Costco stores outside Seattle’s city limits.[…]
This is, in a sense, a gutsy effort by Costco. Seattle has imposed the tax on distributors, meaning that retailers pay the tax as a line item on their purchases. In theory, retailers then decide whether or not to pass along all or part of the tax to customers in their shelf prices; of course they must, or they will go broke selling these products.
Costco is also clearly engaging in self-defense. If, as would be expected, many customers venture outside of Seattle to buy their sugary drinks (diet sodas are exempt from the tax), they will likely do most if not all of their other grocery shopping at the same time. There’s obviously no shortage of other grocery stores, so Costco is clearly trying to do what it can to avoid losing a lot of business.
Speaking of exemptions, the tax is not being levied on the types of heavily-sugared coffee drinks found at Starbucks and other similar locales. Thus, the tax regressively targets the poor, who tend to consume more of the taxed drinks. It’s also arguably racist, an admission made by the office of none other than now-disgraced former Seattle Mayor Ed Murray in an FAQ document last spring.