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Mayor Kenney Strikes Back At Opponents Of Soda Tax

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A barrage of advertisements has targeted Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's proposal to raise money for universal pre-K by taxing soda and other sugary beverages. But Kenney is not backing down.

"It's not a grocery tax, number one, which is very misleading to people," Kenney says.

The mayor says everyone is entitled to their opinion, but he would like opponents to stick to facts. He pulled out a few of his own that he thinks work in his favor.

"We have a 26 percent poverty rate, we have children not getting education, we have facilities that are falling down," Kenney says. "And big soda has a lot of money, they make a lot of profit off their product and they market in neighborhoods that suffer from these very things that we're trying to cure."

The mayor estimates the 3 cents an ounce tax would raise about $400-million over five years, most of it for pre-K, but also for improvements to parks, recreation centers, libraries and energy efficiency, and reducing pension fund debt.

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