A hefty beverage tax passed by Cook County Commissioners to fill a budget gap barely survived two months due to significant opposition from working people, families and small local businesses. While in place, the tax caused prices to skyrocket on more than 1,000 everyday beverages. The prices sent people to stores across county lines. As a result, beverage sales in Cook County decreased to nearly 50 percent at some retailers and restaurants.
Faced with the uprising of their constituents, Cook County Commissioners voted to reverse course and get rid of the tax. “I’ve never heard so much animosity to a tax than this…People were telling me they’d go to Indiana to buy soda, and they weren’t just buying their sodas there, but all their other groceries, too.” – Commissioner John Daley.
Cook County shows how unpopular these taxes are and what citizens can do about them when they set their minds to it.
