Gov. Chris Gregoire wants to help balance the state budget by imposing a number of “sin taxes.”
That always sounds good, but we think her definition of “sin” is going a little too far.
One sin tax she wants would be a $1 increase on each pack of cigarettes sold in the state. We can understand this one; cigarettes are a health menace.
But Gregoire also wants to boost the tax on soda pop and – get this – bottled water. That seems to be a strange definition of “sin.”
The new tax on soda pop would come two ways. The state now gives bottlers a credit for a $1 per gallon syrup tax they pay. Gregoire would eliminate the credit and – ding – bottlers would be stuck with the $1 per gallon tax. The governor also wants an additional tax of 5 cents per 12 ounces on carbonated beverages.
The rationale is that the nation has an obesity problem and that soda pop is part of that. We’re not quite sure how “diet” soda pop contributes to this, but perhaps she sees it as a precursor to people eventually mainlining on sugar.
What’s worse is that the governor wants bottlers to pay a 1 cent per ounce tax on bottled water. Isn’t water suppose to be good for us?
Even if you agree that soda pop and bottled water are works of the devil, piling on such taxes has an obvious downside – doing so will cost jobs.
Bellevue is home to a major bottler. Coca Cola Bottling Company of Washington employes 900 at its facility at 124th Avenue Northeast and Bel-Red Road. Bob Slack, vice president of the firm, says that such a tax by Gregoire would increase the price of soft drinks by up to 30 percent. The cost of a case of bottled water would go up by more than 100 percent. Do that, Slack notes, and his bottling plant will be forced to cut a fourth of its employees.
That’s just what the state doesn’t need – more people out of work.
What surprises us is that the governor hasn’t taken the next logical step: Taxing air.
Not only does everybody like having it around, but also they actually need it. Sort of like cigarette addiction without the smell.
And speaking of smell, why not have the tax be linked to the quality of air? The cleaner, less polluted the air, the better it is for you and thus the higher the tax. Live in a place with foul air? The state can tax the polluters until the air is cleaner – and then bump the tax on all those people who are now breathing better.
Instead of the above, we’d like to suggest a tax on common sense. But, given what we see in the governor’s office, we doubt there’s any money to be made there.
– Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporter
