A city in California has become the first in the United States to vote in favour of a tax on sugary drinks, shocking even those who led the campaign for a Yes vote.
On one side of the electoral battle, dubbed “Berkeley versus Big Soda”, was a progressive city administration backed by a coalition of health and medical groups.
They were armed with evidence that America’s love affair with brands like Coke, Pepsi and Dr Pepper was driving the nation’s obesity epidemic.
Pitted against them was a multi-million-dollar No campaign, funded in large part by the soft drink manufacturers who argued their products were being unfairly singled out by laws that discriminated against their customers.
Berkeley mayor Tom Bates told The World Today that he was “absolutely flabbergasted” by the vote.
“We had no appreciation that the people of Berkeley would vote in such numbers to tax soda,” he said.
“I mean they voted 75 per cent, which is not a landslide, it is like a tsunami. It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Whether that tsunami sweeps across the US is yet to be seen. Thirty-three cities have tried to introduce similar taxes and failed.
In neighbouring San Francisco a similar proposal fell short of the two-thirds majority required for the laws to pass; close to 55 per cent of voters there were in favour of the tax.
The campaign in both cities saw the soft drink industry throw its financial muscle behind the No campaign, lavishing $13 million on advertisements telling residents they were already taxed too heavily.
“The campaign that was run by the soda industry was really phenomenal,” Mr Bates said.
“They had advertisements on buses, they had them in bus shelters, they must have sent 10 mailings to people. It was overwhelming but people saw through it.”
The Yes campaign was backed by the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Paediatrics, both alarmed by the growing obesity crisis.
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who failed in his bid to curb super-sized fast food portions in that city, also threw his financial support behind the new tax, paying for advertisements to be screened on local TV.
“People should make the sensible choices and what this does is [it] sends a message, and one out of every three children in the United States has some kind of diabetic problem, and obesity goes hand in glove with this so people need to realise that this is not a good product,” Mr Bloomberg said.
Soft drink industry downplays result
In the wake of the votes, the American Beverage Association (ABA) applauded the result in San Francisco while downplaying the significance of the outcome in Berkeley.
The organisation representing manufacturers of sugary drinks told voters: “Thanks for sticking with us.”
“In San Francisco, voters shot down a 2-cent-per-ounce tax on soda and other sweetened beverages by a 12 per cent margin,” the association said in a statement.
“Let’s not forget, however, that Berkeley is proud of being the most liberal city in America, and, based on polling of Americans at large, far from representative of the rest of the country.
“So despite what proponents of the tax may be stating, yesterday’s news in no way portends a trend. Those who’ve been seeking to pass a soda tax for more than six years now clearly picked the lowest-hanging piece of fruit on their quest for discriminatory taxes.
“What happened in Berkeley was more about advancing an agenda than it was about sound public policy.”
Berkeley at forefront of social change
Certainly, Berkeley has long been at the forefront of social change in the United States. A city of just 112,000 people, its liberal politics are rooted in the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s.
It is famous for embracing ideas once considered radical that over time have become mainstream policy.
Thirty years ago lawmakers there introduced domestic partner legislation that became a blueprint for national laws.
In 1986 voters there endorsed the city becoming a nuclear-free zone. The city recently voted to provide free medical marijuana to low-income residents.
Now proponents of the soda tax like Mr Bates hope it can prompt national reform on this issue as well.
“People here were the first to really start talking about the war in Vietnam, the people here were the first people to really start talking about civil rights. The disabled movement started in Berkeley. We stopped smoking here. We banned styrofoam here,” he said.
“All of those things are conventional wisdom today, so what happens in Berkeley is a great barometer for what’s going to happen elsewhere in about three to five years.
“Things that start in Berkeley actually travel. They have an expression here in the United States that what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. What happens in Berkeley travels throughout the United States.”
Mayor wants to ‘cripple’ soft drink makers
But from the ABA there was this warning to other jurisdictions considering following Berkeley’s lead:
“If politicians in this country want to stake their reputation on what Berkeley has done, then they do so at their own risk. Voters across the country sent a strong message in yesterday’s elections – and it wasn’t a plea for more taxes.”
But in the wake of winning this battle, Mr Bates said he was intent on winning the war. Asked if he wanted to destroy the industry, the Berkeley mayor unequivocally answered “yes”.
“I would like to cripple it,” he said. “People can choose other products, they just don’t have to choose something that’s terrible for them, or if they do, they should do it in moderation.
“Berkeley was one of the places that banned smoking, and when we did that they said, ‘What are you trying to do to the tobacco industry?’.
“What’s happened here is that 90 per cent of the people in Berkeley don’t smoke. They understand the health ramifications of it. This was actually taken out to the churches, taken to the community organisations, the health organisations and they said, ‘let’s do something about this’, so they came forward so we had a real coalition.
“Obviously the soda industry is concerned. I mean it’s getting worldwide attention. We’ve had calls from Great Britain, we’ve had calls from France and other parts of the world. It’s a worldwide phenomenon.”