Trash Fee, Soda Tax Are Go

Philly.com
Mar. 03, 2010

Top aides to Mayor Nutter today said the proposed trash fee and soda tax in the mayor’s budget plan would stave off service cuts and improve quality of life in the city.

City officials today laid out the details of the $3.87 billion budget plan for the 2011 fiscal year, which starts July 1. As first reported by the Daily News, the plan will contain a trash fee and a tax on sugary drinks. Here are the details:

* The trash fee would be $5.77/week or $300/year for property owners and would be placed on your real estate tax bill. Some low income households will qualify to pay a $200 fee instead. This fee would be effective July 1 and is expected to bring in $108 million annually.
* The sugary drinks tax would be 2 cents per ounce of soda, juice and other sugar beverages. That tax would be charged to retailers, as part of their business privilege tax. Presumably they would pass the charge on to consumers. It will yield $77 million a year, but because it won’t start until January 2011, this tax would generate $39 million in the 2011 fiscal year.

Officials said these new charges mean they will not have to make any major service cuts to close a projected budget gap of up to $150 million in the 2011 fiscal year. Over five years, that number will grow to $500 million to $700 million. That’s due to lower than expected tax revenues, coupled with some unplanned expenses, like the cost of snow removal.

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