PORTLAND, Ore. – Food cart and restaurant owners, neighborhood business operators, representatives of community organizations and labor unions gathered at Fusion Food Pavilion in Portland’s King neighborhood this morning to introduce the Move Forward Multnomah coaltion to the people of Multnomah County. Their message: Reject a harmful beverage tax in Multnomah County that targets the pocketbooks, jobs and community businesses of working class people.
- Morgan Polk with Fish Fusion food cart says increasing costs are adding up and it’s hard for the people in the neighborhood: “It’s already gotten so expensive to live here. We try to keep our menu affordable, but this tax will force us to increase prices. It’s going to hurt our business. More importantly, it’s going to hurt our people in our community, whether they’re visiting our cart or doing their regular shopping. It’s a huge tax.”
- Mike Gross with Portland Beverage Company, a local distributing company and maker of Bridge City Soda, is worried about his employees after seeing what happened in Cook County, Ill. and Philidelphia after the tax was implemented: “Big losses and big layoffs. I did the math. I have ten employees and – if sales decline like they have in other cities – I’m afraid I’d have to let go of three people in the first year of the tax. That’s three people who are working family-wage jobs with good benefits. Let’s talk about our values here: Our people work hard and we work hard to take care of our people. How are those folks going to pay the bills if they lose their jobs?
- Anthony Muhammad with Fusion Food Pavilion, says his pod is the the first African American owned food cart pod in Portland. He is concerned the tax will disproportionately impact certain communities: “What hit home for me in terms of this tax is it starts to single out people… It’s just another thing that will start to push us out further in terms of being able to survive, espeically in the wake of gentrification. And it becomes a backdoor sales tax. Oregon has struck down sales tax from its inception. This is a tax where you can come around the backdoor -- If we can’t get you in the front, we’ll you on the other side.”
Beverage taxes are most damaging to the people they’re supposed to help: lower-income, working class families. They drive up costs of living and the costs of local neighborhood businesses without guarantees that the tax funds will actually go where politicians say they’ll go.
Communities around the country are experiencing the negative effects of beverage taxes and they’re speaking up. From Philadelphia to Sante Fe to Cook County, Illinois, people have had enough and they’re voicing their opposition to beverage taxes.
BACKGROUND
Move Forward Multnomah is a coalition of residents, neighborhood businesses and community organizations informing the public about the harmful impact of a proposed beverage tax on the community. More information can be found on our website, www.moveforwardmultnomah.com, on Facebook, www.facebook.com/moveforwardmultnomah and on Twitter, @MoveForwardMult.
What is the proposed Multnomah County beverage tax?
Multnomah County voters are being asked to put on the ballot a new tax for sugar-sweetened beverages. Specifically, the new tax would add 1.5 cents per ounce of juices, energy drinks, coffees, teas and more. While that may not sound like a lot, it adds up pretty quickly – especially when considering the bulk purchases that families and community businesses make.
Who would be paying for this?
Consumers will pay more. In fact, a 2-liter soft drink product could double in price as a result of this excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. And that doesn’t include the added cost of the Oregon bottle deposit of ten cents per container. According to the Tax Foundation: “Studies show excise taxes are disproportionately borne by low-income taxpayers, making them one of the most regressive components of the U.S. tax system.”
Recent beverage taxes rejected in the Northwest:
- St. Helens, Oregon: Proposal for a beverage tax was first discussed on July 19, 2017. On October 4, 2017, the entire St. Helens City Council unanimously rejected the proposal with a 5-0 vote (one vote was by proxy).
- Spokane, Washington: Proposal for a beverage tax was first discussed on January 2017. The entire city council sent a letter to every business in Spokane on May 23, 2017 stating there would be no beverage tax in Spokane.
- Tacoma, Washington: Proposal of a beverage tax was first discussed on May 23, 2017. Further discussion of a tax ended in mid-July 2017.
