Was Philadelphia’s Soda Tax the Result of a Union-Versus-Union Political Fight?
Indicted union boss John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty ordered the soda tax passed to hurt the city’s Teamsters union, federal prosecutors say.
Officially, Philadelphia’s much loathed soda tax—the highest such tax in the country—was approved as a way to generate revenue for the city’s new pre-K program.
Unofficially, like all vice taxes, it was intended to reduce Philadelphians’ consumption of sugary beverages—though it has mostly just changed where people buy soda and hasn’t improved public health at all.
But now there’s a third possible explanation for the soda tax, and it’s downright crazy: a political hit job executed by one of the city’s most powerful union bosses against a rival union.