Seattle Mayor Taxes Diet Soda to Combat White Privilege

The liberals running big cities justify their greedy soda taxes on the grounds that if they didn’t punitively tax us for our own good, we would consume too many calories and get fat. But how to justify taxing diet soda? Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has the answer — white privilege:

After it was suggested to him his proposed two-cents-an-ounce tax on soda sweetened with sugar would be borne disproportionately by the poor and people of color, Murray lowered the levy and included all sweetened drinks, including diet soda. …

Diet drinks, Hizzoner reasoned, were more likely to be consumed by “upper middle class white people.” It had become for him “an issue of equity,” a way to tackle “white privileged institutionalized racism.”

So long as it punishes white people, Seattle voters probably won’t mind if sin tax on soda has the same effect there as it did in Philadelphia:

Philadelphia’s soda tax—which went into effect in January—has seen price hikes of 30 to 50 percent along with job losses in the beverage industry. Philly.com has reported that one of the city’s largest drink distributors said it will cut 20 percent of its workforce, while an owner of several ShopRite stores said he will cut some 300 jobs.

Now for some good news. In a special election, Santa Fe just nixed a soda tax, despite extra-governmental Nanny State plutocrat Michael Bloomberg spending over $1 million trying to impose it.

On tips from Steve A and Jim M.