A proposal in California to tax soda appears dead after its sponsor said he’d delay a vote until next year.
While there are currently soda taxes in a handful of California cities, the state Legislature last year passed a law banning any new local soda taxes. The issue has cropped up in other cities as well, perhaps, most notably, in Philadelphia and New York City.
Kris Madsen, the faculty director for the Berkeley Food Institute at UC Berkeley, talked about whether taxes on soda and sugary drinks actually have an effect on raising money or reducing consumption.