The Cause That Refreshes – Soda Pop Industry Push for Tax Rollback Now Tops $14 Million

Another $4.2 Million Shows Up in Latest PDC Report for I-1107

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Sept. 1.—Just in case there was any doubt which initiative campaign will get the biggest bucks this year – now that the beer industry is pumping big dollars into the effort to block liquor sales in supermarkets – the soda-pop industry has dropped another $4.2 million into its campaign to roll back this year’s grocery taxes.

            That makes Initiative 1107 the single biggest-spending ballot-measure campaign in state history. It also firmly establishes that this year’s spending on initiatives overall is a state record. So far the various interests behind this year’s six initiative campaigns, both pro-and-con, have raised $31 million. The previous record was $22.8 million in 2005.

            The American Beverage Association’s latest campaign contribution was made last Thursday and showed up on the Public Disclosure Commission website Tuesday. So far the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group has put $14.2 million into the campaign. Another $325 comes from other sources.

            Initiative 1107 would repeal a series of budget-balancing tax increases passed by the Legislature this year on commodities sold in supermarkets, among them soda pop, of course, but also candy, gum and bottled water. It also would restore a tax break for manufacturers of canned goods that was eliminated this year.

The American Beverage Association, the national affiliate of the Washington Beverage Association, has made it a point to battle pop taxes wherever they emerge, but taking a page from previous successful campaigns in other states, it has broadened the effort to include other taxes. The 1107 campaign calls itself, “Stop the Food and Beverage Tax Hikes.”