Seattle Mayor Adds Diet Drinks to His Soda Tax ‘To Tackle White Privilege’

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
All the shops just outside Seattle received a huge business opportunity selling diet soda.

Yup! Happened in Philly, too!

originally posted by: crazyewok
Its stupid things like this that turned be from being a supporter of the black community to one that despises it.

Things like this dont help racism they just spread it.

Wow, just wow, A tax on soft drinks brought this outburst? Dam you are harsh

Oh the irony

originally posted by: Throes

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: mobiusmale

It will fall flat. I live in a Phila, PA suburb and the lib Philly mayor instituted a soda tax. The taxes he was hoping to generate thus far have fallen short, as most city residents who live near the suburbs do their grocery shopping outside the city and buy their soda there. And don't even get me started on his policy of declaring Philly a sanctuary city for illegals.

He's an idiot. I live 2 hours out of Philly but still see the news on it. Didn't they already spend the estimated tax income? Idiots.

Then he has the nerve to say it's corporate greed which is causing the layoffs, not his tax. Own it! He enacted the tax and needs to own the consequences!! Makes me mad and I only visit from time to time.

I've lived in and around Philly for all my 57 years, and he is the worst mayor, by far, that city ever elected.

originally posted by: UpIsNowDown

originally posted by: crazyewok
Its stupid things like this that turned be from being a supporter of the black community to one that despises it.

Things like this dont help racism they just spread it.

Wow, just wow, A tax on soft drinks brought this outburst? Dam you are harsh

Oh the irony

Can you possibly be more simplistic? The issue here is that the Mayor wants a tax on soft drinks to "combat obesity.' He then amended his request to include diet soft drinks "to combat white privilege." There is irony here, but I'm not sure you understand it.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Throes

Did Philly tax the diet drinks as well?
If not maybe fat people switched to the cheaper aspartame options?
That could easily make a difference in comparison.

Oh, so now 'fat' = "racist"??

The SJW's really have lost it now, yet more cause to cannibalize themselves!

What?!
I was replying to another member about what may have happened in Philly.
The people who drink the most soda are usually fat people, black or white.
Purely anecdotal of course, just what I see in people's shopping carts every day.

originally posted by: TarzanBeta

originally posted by: mobiusmale

originally posted by: windword
a reply to: mobiusmale

Why stop at diet soda?
1) Throw a big tax on hockey game tickets
2) Impose a levy on golf Green Fees
3) Tax the heck out of Wienerschnitzel and Steak & Kidney Pie

No, no, you guys have got it all wrong! Tax sun screen! The higher the SPF, the higher the tax! Also, tanning creams and especially tanning salons!

This is absolutely brilliant.

We should bring it up at the next San Francisco city council meeting...would probably pass unanimously!

Who needs sunscreen in Seattle?! Really?

I should suspect that sunscreen sales will be sky rocketing in Washington, especially in the Seattle area!

Washington students will no longer need a note from a doctor and parent in order to use sunscreen at school under a new law signed by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Previously, students needed a prescription or note from a licensed health care professional and a parent or guardian to use over-the-counter sunscreen products while at school. According to The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, sunscreen is considered to be a medication because it is regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration and is categorized as a "sunscreen drug product."

LOL

a reply to: mobiusmale

Soda tax is just a plainly stupid idea to begin with. However, I've read the source article at Heat St, the Reason post it cites and several Seattle Times articles and I can't figure out exactly where the quotes first appearing in the Reason post come from:

Diet drinks, Hizzoner reasoned, were more likely to be consumed by "upper middle class white people." It had become for him "an issue of equity," a way to tackle "white privileged institutionalized racism."

Hizzoner for those who are like "wha?" is a slang for "His Honor." Try Googling Ed Murray+any of the quotes and everything leads back to the Reason blog post. So I have to ask, did Ed Murray actually say this?

A page about it at the Mayor's office's website mentions a 31% gap in tested reading proficiency between white and black Seattle third graders. This tax is supposedly to help fund programs to address this disparity. There's also a quote there about healthier students getting better eduations. Other official sources also mention fighting obesity which jives with a statement to the Seattle Times from Benton Strong, Murray's spokesperson:

According to Benton Strong, a spokesperson for the mayor, the proposed tax is intended to have a public-health benefit. Sugar-laden drinks have been identified as a major cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes, so the tax could act as a deterrent.

That same article does present data showing that white people, those with college educations and those with higher incomes do in fact drink more diet drinks, So in the context of a drink tax, it does seem a reasonable criticism to point out that the tax disproportionately impacts the group whose children its supposed to be benefiting. So, it's quite possible that the Mayor saw the criticism and amended the proposal.

I just don't see anywhere at all where the tax is being promoted to tackle "white privilege." I would really like to know where the quotes come from because to me it looks like egregious muckracking from a hack at Reason, intended to twist (mostly white) conservative panties.

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

Illegally imported black market cigarettes and tobacco products are so easy to buy in the UK that nobody poor really cares about the taxes at stores.

This is exactly the scenario that meakes me chant MAGA MAGA MAGA...

a reply to: schuyler

Not sure I can be more simplistic than the part you chose to leave out

you know this part

"from being a supporter of the black community to one that despises it"

I hit up the author of the blog post at Reason. I'll report back if he responds.

EDIT:

The author responded. He pointed me to 2:10 at the video on the page I linked above. I went to the beginning of his remarks and typed up a brief transcript.

Welcome. Good morning. Last year I convened an education summit and what I heard from that summit was straightforward and it was profound. What I heard was this — we need to end the disparities in our schools between the achievement of our white students and our students of color. This demand is straightforward because the facts are indisputable. According to a Stanford study, Seattle has the fifth worst achievement gap between white and black students among major cities. Forty-three percent of our African American students don't graduate or don't graduate on time. Conversely, seventy-one percent of students enrolled in advanced learning programs are white but they only make up forty-six percent of the over all student population. The disparities are stark with those statistics. This has a profound implication because this unacceptable education divides and robs a whole generation of their future and it is crippingly our collective future. The education summit was headed by ...

He then goes on to list a bunch of participants by name or demographic. Then:

Their recommendations were clear — we must be proactive about supporting Seattle public schools with front-line programs that put equity first. To put "equity first" means not letting white privilege institutional racism upend the future of our children of color. Today I'm announcing an ongoing $18 million funding plan to address these front-line programs.

After that there's some details on the programs (all stuff we've all heard of before like afterschool programs and mentorships) and then this bit:

we will raise the ongoing $18 million for our education and health agenda with a 1.75-cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks like soda, energy and sports drinks, artificial fruit drinks and ready-to-drink coffee drinks. The Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax [I assume that's a title] is expected to dramatically reduce the consumption of these unhealthy products. A similar program in Berkeley has seen a 20% reduction in the use of these unhealthy products.

There's a couple more lines from Murray and then other people speak. The other parts that were cherry-picked to form this frankenquote come from the q&a part at the end. After going on for a bit about the health affects of high sugar drinks, at about 14:40, a reporter asks why diet sodas were added to the list since they don't have the same health impact. Here's the response:

It's an issue of equity. Umm. Again the data tended to show that diet soda tended to be drinked — you know — tends to be more upper class white people. And the sugary uh — high sugar soda — and like tend to be in minority communities.

And there you have it. At no point did Murray say that he'd added diet soda to his lame soda tax proposal to fight white privilege or institutionalized racism. It was done to make paying the tax more equitable. The tax was meant primarily to deter consumption and secondarily to fund a host of programs that are intended to fix disparities wrought by what Murray did refer to as "white privilege institutional racism."

Anyway, it's stil a stupid tax. That doesn't justify the amount of wanton spin piled on this with a mashed up out of context fake quote.

a reply to: jimmyx

That's not the reason for the tax. And when it comes to more money for school's America already has one of the highest spending rates per student in the world. Our schools much like our Congress needs serious reform. We need to quit worring so much about everyone's feelings and get back to education.

a reply to: mobiusmale

Great! What the mayor of Seattle is really doing is giving people the incentive to get off of all of those drinks containing aspartame which tastes nasty and is generally bad for your health!

But really, what a racist idiot! Besides the last time I was in Seattle I never saw a single person of any race with any kind of soda in their hand, just bottled water everywhere! Maybe he should propose a tax on water since ya know privileged white people drink water and all!

originally posted by: GeauxHomeYoureDrunk
a reply to: mobiusmale

Great! What the mayor of Seattle is really doing is giving people the incentive to get off of all of those drinks containing aspartame which tastes nasty and is generally bad for your health!

But really, what a racist idiot! Besides the last time I was in Seattle I never saw a single person of any race with any kind of soda in their hand, just bottled water everywhere! Maybe he should propose a tax on water since ya know privileged white people drink water and all!

That means you're one of the people who should have gotten the full joke in my story. Bravo.

originally posted by: TarzanBeta


That means you're one of the people who should have gotten the full joke in my story. Bravo.

LMAO!!!! I'm glad you said something! That made me go back and take a second look at some of the posts I must have scrolled too fast to catch. Gold!

a reply to: jimmyx

I agree, but let's take away all of the junk food for food stamps and not allow anything with added sugars.

a reply to: TarzanBeta

Oh were you joking?
I missed it, care to explain it to a white fit physically active entitled male who drinks diet coke because I prefer the taste.

a reply to: mobiusmale

Open-handed racism, from politicians, has to be stopped!! We need national laws against any and all forms of affirmative action, race-based funding, etc. Any politician that even suggests such nonsense should be immediately removed from office.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Surely taxation should be up to the state unless you are a supporter of the 16th ammendment?

Another member has already mentioned the fact that Seattle mayor Ed Murray is embroiled in a pedophilia scandal (and a related lawsuit). Living near Seattle as I do, and being familiar with this true nutball Murray, nothing surprises me at this point.

Of all the loony liberals I've ever seen in my life, this dookie is among the most disgusting.

Anyway, I find it particularly disgusting that pedo nutball Murray (who is "married" to a man) had to bring race into it here in lily-White Seattle. There was simply no reason for that other than to create a hot-button issue to distract from the fact he's a revolting pervert.

Ed Murrar Sex Abuse Timeline