Nutter Still Pushing For Soda Tax
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It will be a day of intense negotiations in City Hall, as Mayor Nutter and council members grapple with how to help solve the School District's financial woes. Nutter, for his part, is pushing for a soda tax but local bottlers are pushing back.
The beverage industry says Mayor Nutter's plan for a two-pennies per ounce soda tax will cost jobs and perhaps drive some bottlers out of the city. But school advocates argue that the district desperately needs city council to provide additional funding.
Nutter says beyond a soda tax, the only choice is a property tax increase.
"We only have, as best I can tell, a couple of real options that generate the kind of revenues that would be needed."
Councilman Curtis Jones says Council, caught between the bottlers and the school supporters, is far from an agreement.
"We're closer," Jones explained. "I think there's a lot of work to be done in the interim."
Nutter says a soda tax would bring in $60 million to the district.
Reported by Mike Dunn, KYW Newsradio
