A lawsuit has been filed to overturn a California law that prohibits municipalities from taxing high-sugar soft drinks.
The suit was filed Aug. 10 in Sacramento by Cultiva La Salud, a health-oriented nonprofit, and a member of the Santa Cruz city council. It seeks to invalidate a 2018 law that enjoins any California municipality from levying taxes on sugary sodas until 2031.
“Sugary drink taxes have had a demonstrably positive impact in the communities that enacted them,” Dr. John Maa, a general surgeon at MarinHealth Medical Center and board member of the American Heart Association, said in a statement. “Localities should be able to enact laws that promote health and equity while helping communities and local businesses thrive.”
The soda tax prohibition was passed after the beverage industry threatened to push onto California’s ballot a measure that would have made it harder for municipalities to raise sales taxes. The industry gathered enough ballot petition signatures to put the measure before voters, but agreed to quash it in return for the soda tax ban – a tactic that some politicians and other observers called blackmail.
