Hillary Clinton supports soda tax to fund universal pre-school program
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton fueled her opponents when she openly voice support of a soda tax, saying she’s “very supportive” of the Philadelphia mayor’s proposal to tax soda sales in order to pay for universal preschool.
The former secretary of state was advocating for a “cradle to college” pipeline when the soda tax proposal came up during a gun control forum hosted by the Mothers of the Movement in Philadelphia.
“It starts early with working with families, working with kids, building up community resources — I’m very supportive of the mayor’s proposal to tax soda to get universal pre-school for kids,” Clinton said.
“I mean, we need universal pre-school. And if that’s a way to do it, that’s how we should do it.”
In early March, the Democratic mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, introduced a plan to tax soda at three cents per ounce in order to fund a universal pre-K program.
3 cents per ounce means a small, 20 oz. bottle will now have a 50 cent tax attached and a 64oz bottle would be taxed by $1.92 – nearly double the price of the generics at most grocery store; therefore, at best the 99c soda bottle would now cost near $3 per bottle.
Kenney’s predecessor, Michael Nutter, proposed a 2-cent tax per ounce tax on sugary drinks twice, but it failed.
