The blowback from the Cook County, Illinois (USA) "sweetened beverage tax" is rather insane.
Have you missed all the hubbub? Well, let's recap what's going on:
- Illinois is broke.
- Chicago is broke.
- Cook County, which is the county that encompasses Chicago and a whole host of other suburbs, is also broke.
- All of these entities are trying to grab money from wherever they can, and that means they'll tax everything that moves.
Enter...the Beverage Tax
Cook County decided that it would tax all sweetened beverages. But the tax was so confusing that it was deemed unconstitutional by a judge; so it didn't get implemented on its original activation date of July 1.
Many court cases followed and here we are, in August, when the County eventually won, the stay of execution was lifted, and the tax went into effect.
But it's not THAT simple
The tax calls for one penny per ounce taxed on sweetened beverages. "Zero calorie" doesn't always get a break: artificial sweeteners aren't exempt here. Fruit juice doesn't get taxed if it's 100% juice.
LaCroix and other sparkling waters are exempt - since they don't have sweeteners. Unless they do have sweeteners. Then they're taxed.
We're From the Government, We're Here to Help
Scariest words ever right there: the County government claims that they're doing this for our own good - since we shouldn't be drinking sweetened beverages, and we should all lose weight.
But let's be honest here, the county is broke - they also claim that this tax will bring in $200 million a year in revenue.
In fact, they're suing the group that got the stay of execution - the Illinois Retail Merchants Association - for $17 million.
That's to cover the amount they didn't bring during the month they couldn't collect the tax.
To Answer The Question...
That drink in the photo is an Aquafina Sparkling. It has zero sweeteners. It is not subject to the tax.
Good thing: 8 cans of it, 12 ounces each, cost me $3, but it would have been $3.96 - a 32 percent tax rate.
This is exactly why we don't need governments. They're not only useless, but they create more headaches than we would otherwise have and they simply destroy wealth.
Perhaps they should figure out why the various levels of government are broke and where their "services" have failed. Then maybe they could make the appropriate adjustments to their own habits and stop worrying about being nannies for all of their coerced subjects.
The $17 million lawsuit should be tossed, but I'm sure it will make its way through several courts - and waste even more extorted "taxpayer" money - before someone with some sense makes a fool of them.
Sigh...
You zeroed in on what's wrong here in Illinois - state, county, city of Chicago.
What they don't realize is that the exodus - in the form of businesses leaving, people leaving, and bad bond ratings - is just beginning. Once those in charge realize what has happened, it will be too late.
ILL-ANNOY, the state that can't even keep a rigged lottery game running! How bad of a crook do you have to be to do that?
I know, right?
I always thought the money from the lottery went into the lottery budget and paid for the lottery. The idea that your lottery winnings would be on hold because the lottery money went to pay something else...is crazy.
Now we have mayor Emmanuel (Obama's ballerina boy) filing suit against the Federal Gov. for telling Chi-town their funds will be cut off if they don't quit protecting illegals. Man oh man, our forefathers are spinning in their graves over how far we have fallen.
While we're all being politically correct, Trump is in trouble for standing up to North Korea, which has threatened TO NUKE GUAM.
That's correct...Kim Jong Wacko said he is pointing weapons at Guam and Trump told him he would be met with "fire and fury" and the internet is mad at Trump...and worried about people getting their feelings hurt by some guy at Google.
It gets crazier and crazier, that's why I keep stacking gold, silver and bitcoin!