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Dom Giordano: The Tax No One Cared About

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia has not yet won their battle to tax what they call Big Soda in order to execute Mayor Jim Kenney's grand plan to solve poverty in Philadelphia by universal pre-K instruction. I'm convinced that this is a sales tax and under Pennsylvania law only the Pennsylvania Legislature can pass a sales tax. However, with Democrats comprising a majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, I think they might shove the tax through.

Whether they do or not, I'm very interested at how many suburban callers we get on the tax. The tax does not significantly affect suburbanites but they are tremendously opposed to it. I rarely talk that much about city issues because I believe so many listeners have fled the city and want to avoid the nanny state that they have created.

My theory is that there is interest because people get that this is textbook liberalism and if it succeeds in Philadelphia it will make its way around the country. I think they resent the mentality that underlies Jim Kenney's grand plan and they the national Democratic Party wanted to do similar things for the whole country.

Jim Kenney and his minions demonized soda companies by talking about huge profits they reaped off the backs of the poor and they made sugar into the new tobacco. They then told poorer Philadelphians that they would reap the path to a better life for their kids if they just paid a bit more for soda.

They won more votes in Philadelphia City Council by secretly slicing off millions of dollars of the potential taxes to pay for city pensions and other union projects. They also cut the tax from 3 cents an ounce of liquid to 1.5 cents per ounce. These are all classic liberal tactics.

The philosophy behind this liberal scheme includes the ongoing idea that the government and their health commissars should dictate to people what to eat and drink. They believe they can use things like pre-K programs to make income inequality arguments and ignore the fact that involved parents are the most important component of a child's success.

My biggest disappointment is that I'm not hearing Republican leaders in the suburbs use this tax to make the argument that Philadelphia values must be contained and not allowed to come to the suburbs.  At least they should be welcoming people to their towns for cheaper cigarettes, a taste of soda and a bigger taste of liberty.

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