Monthly Archives: June 2016

Big Government, Food Bans, Food Policy, Food Surveillance

Food Fight in Maine

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Maine Gov. Paul LePage is challenging the federal government over how to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Under the guise of reforming SNAP, Maine’s Republican governor wants to monitor what poor people eat and drink. The governor wants to create a state-based “food-police” to control what Maine’s poorest citizens put in their grocery bags.

Why should we trust that food bans in Maine won’t spread to other states or to the feds? If your poor food choices impact the cost of my insurance premium, why shouldn’t there be a national food-police restricting the diets of all Americans? If consuming less of an unhealthy food is good for poor people, consuming less of an unhealthy food is good for all people. Public health advocates will look at food bans in SNAP as a model for national efforts to restrict the food choices of all Americans.

Some in the political class believe that solving nutritional issues is the responsibility of the government. However, banning certain foods will not make people healthier; it will not save taxpayer money; and it will not reform entitlements. Instead, the food-police will disrupt the free market and create government food bureaucracies

Public health advocates believe that Americans are unable to make responsible decisions about the food and beverages we consume. Conservative advocates and elected officials should stand against paternalistic policies aimed at our diets, and trust the American people to decide for ourselves what is healthy or unhealthy. Food monitoring and restrictions violate individual liberty, and create a gateway for more government intrusion into our lives. Food surveillance is not entitlement reform, and it is not going to make Americans any healthier – as if that’s the government’s business anyway.

Conservatives should reject proposals to leverage government agencies (like the USDA) to interfere so deeply in the personal choices of Americans. Monitoring what some Americans put in their grocery carts is decidedly bad policy and anathema to conservative values.

Whether it’s under the guise of entitlement reform or public health, some politicians may favor food monitoring and restrictions because it’s an easy way to mislead voters to think they’re being good stewards of taxpayer money. But, food restrictions in SNAP will create a food bureaucracy mimicking the complexity of other regulatory boondoggles. Bureaucrats will have to analyze and categorize the 300,000 food and beverage products on the market now and the additional 15,000 food items introduced every year.

If the precedent is set that the government on the basis of public health has the authority to monitor the food choices of the poor, Governor LePage will set us down a slippery slope toward the food-police regulating and keeping watch over the diets of all Americans.

Food Policy, GMO, Sound Science / Health

Media Alert: Food Labeling

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National GMO Labeling Standard

Washington, D.C. — Capitol Allies (CapAllies), an independent, nonpartisan effort that promotes free enterprise, and its partners urge Congress to reach a bipartisan agreement on a national GMO labeling standard before Vermont’s GMO labeling mandate takes effect on July 1.

Time is running out. After the Senate approves a bill, the House of Representatives must also pass the Senate legislation in quick time. The House is out of session the last week of June leaving only five legislative days remaining.

CapAllies agrees with the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food: “We need a uniform national solution to eliminate the potential confusion and costly red tape associated with the growing, 50-state patchwork of mandatory state labeling laws that could raise the cost of food for families by up to $1,050 per year.”

“To date, more than 50 bills have been introduced in dozens of states to require the labeling of genetically modified foods, or GMOs. Vermont’s law takes effect on July 1. If Congress fails to act, Vermont and the myriad others following suit will upend the nation’s entire food system, from farming to supply to retail,” said Jerry Rogers, CapAllies president, in a segment on the LangerCast on the RELM Network.

Academic and scientific studies over the past 30 years – by such groups as the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Academies of Science – have said, unequivocally, that GM foods are safe and healthy.  Studies have concluded that GMOs are as safe as, or safer than, conventional or organic foods.

GMOs now make up a major part of the American diet: 60-70 percent of all food on supermarket shelves is GMO. So the issue of labeling needs to be addressed in a manner that defers to sound science. An alternative to the state-based food police is a national standard. If the Anti-GMO activists were truly interested in science and consumer safety, they would aggressively support this approach.

CapAllies commends Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) on their efforts to draft compromise legislation that will offer a common sense, national food labeling solution.

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Media Contact: Jerry Rogers 202.302.9783 / jerry@capallies.com

Jerry Rogers is the founder of Capitol Allies, an independent, nonpartisan effort that promotes free enterprise, and he’s the co-host of  The LangerCast on the RELM Network.

Grocery Tax, Philadelphia, Soda Tax, universal pre-K

Media Alert: Soda Tax

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Philly Passes Regressive Grocery Tax

Washington, DC – Philadelphia became the first major American city with a soda tax despite massive opposition to the regressive proposal. The City Council gave final approval to a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet beverages. Mayor Jim Kenney said the new tax “will help improve education.” However, in the eleventh-hour the Mayor’s office announced that less than half of the projected revenue will be earmarked for education. Instead, millions of taxpayer dollars will be used for special projects and to plug holes in the City’s General Fund. Mayor Kenney sold the tax as a means to fund pre-K. Instead, his false promise proves that the public cannot trust government to do what it says when it comes to targeted taxes.

Capitol Allies remains steadfast in its opposition to such regressive, discriminatory taxation.

Mayor Kenney and the City Council ignored 58 percent of Philadelphians who opposed the regressive, discriminatory tax. A tax that will hit over a thousand grocery items. Capitol Allies has offered commentary stating that the tax is clearly illegal, violating Article VIII, Section 1, of the Pennsylvania Constitution—or uniformity clause.

Capitol Allies and its partners will continue to offer analysis and commentary on the Philly tax so to better inform the public discussion as the anti-tax fight moves to the courts.

Media Contact: Jerry Rogers 202.302.9783 / jerry@capallies.com

Jerry Rogers is the founder of Capitol Allies, an independent, nonpartisan effort that promotes free enterprise, and he’s the co-host of  The LangerCast on the RELM Network.

Grocery Tax, Soda Tax

Philly Soda Tax Unconstitutional

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NOTax

The Philadelphia City Council is set to give final approval to a 1.5-cents-per-ounce tax increase for sugar-added and artificially sweetened soft drinks. A massive, regressive tax that will hurt Philly’s poorest residents.

Mayor Jim Kenney (D-Philadelphia) sold the tax by promising that the revenue will be used exclusively for “do-good” government programs, specifically a pre-kindergarten expansion. However, in an eleventh-hour bombshell the Mayor’s office informed the Council that less than half of the revenue will be earmarked for pre-K. Millions of dollars will be used to plug structural problems in the city’s budget.

Ronald D. Castille, a former chief justice of Pennsylvania, writes in Philly.Com that the Philadelphia Mayor and Council are pushing an unconstitutional soda tax:

“Mayor Kenney and City Council are in the process of violating the Pennsylvania Constitution” because “the proposed tax by the ounce is a thinly disguised sales tax.” The Mayor is trying “to claim that the tax is imposed on the distributor, not the consumer. The city implausibly believes the tax will not be passed on to the consumer.”  However, businesses ALWAYS pass the cost of all taxation onto their customers in the prices of the goods and services they sell.

This brings up Article VIII, Section 1, of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The uniformity clause states:

“All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be collected under general laws.”

“The city says the distributor will bear the burden of this tax. But a distributor in Reading or Altoona, for instance, would not have a similar tax on the distribution of these beverages. Consumers in other counties do not have to pay a similar tax on these beverages.” The former chief justice is right – the Philly soda tax is a clear violation of the uniformity clause.

 

Grocery Tax, Philadelphia, Soda Tax, universal pre-K

Is Philadelphia’s Soda Tax Legal?  

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The Philadelphia City Council approved a 1.5-cents-per-ounce tax increase for sugar-added and artificially sweetened soft drinks. A massive, regressive tax that will hurt Philly’s poorest residents.

Mayor Jim Kenney (D-Philadelphia) sold the tax by promising that the revenue will be used exclusively for “do-good” government programs, including a pre-kindergarten expansion. However, in an eleventh-hour bombshell the Mayor’s office informed the Council that the revenue from the new tax will be used to plug structural problems in the city’s budget.

Mayor Kenney pushed through a massive, regressive beverage tax on a false promise.

In the same legislative session, the City Council also advanced a plan that offers tax credits to merchants who sell “healthy” beverages in their stores. So the Council is hiking the taxes on sugar-added and artificially sweetened beverages yet offering tax credits for “healthy” beverages.

In Philadelphia, not all beverages are equal under the law. However, Article VIII, Section 1, of the Pennsylvania Constitution states:

“All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be collected under general laws.”

The dictionary defines “uniformity” as “the quality or state of being the same.” Under these new proposals, will beverages be taxed uniformly in Philadelphia?

In the “same class of subjects,” Philly will reward tax credits to some beverages but punish other beverages with tax hikes. Is the City Council in violation of the Tax Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution?

A final vote on the “soda” tax is expected to take place on June 16. Let’s hope Council Members take a look at the Pennsylvania Constitution and a Webster’s dictionary before the final vote.

Grocery Tax, Jobs, Philadelphia, Soda Tax, universal pre-K, War on the Poor

Update: Philly’s Mayor Kenney Pushes Regressive Tax on False Promise of Expanded Pre-K

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On June 8, 2016 in Philadelphia, lawmakers took a crucial vote on an important issue for taxpayers, families, and consumers. The plan from Mayor Jim Kenney (D-Philadelphia) would have imposed a 3 cents-per-ounce tax on more than 1,000 beverages. However, at the eleventh-hour the Mayor dropped a bombshell: a tax at 1.5 cents-per-ounce but spread out to both sugary and diet beverages, and the tax revenue would go toward the city’s fund balance. The Mayor promised that the new tax would be dedicated to initiatives like expanded pre-K. Instead, he pushed through a massive, regressive grocery tax on a false promise.

Mayor Kenney’s expanded grocery tax is excessive and it will drive down wages and kill jobs. His tax targets the poor and robs resources from families living paycheck to paycheck.

Capitol Allies is a staunch opponent of arbitrary, regressive taxation.

Before the City Council took the vote, in an effort led by Capitol Allies, a broad coalition of taxpayer and free market groups sent this coalition letter to the Philadelphia City Council asking them to reject Mayor Kenney’s grocery tax.

NoPhillyGroceryTax

Economic Growth, Grocery Tax, Jobs, Philadelphia, Soda Tax, War on the Poor

No Philly Grocery Tax

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ProGrowthCoalition_NoPhillyTax

More than a dozen national pro-growth, pro-job, free-market advocates have released a coalition letter asking the Philadelphia City Council to oppose Mayor Jim Kenney’s plan to impose a 3 cents-per-ounce tax on more than 1,000 beverages—the Philly Grocery Tax. The proposed Philadelphia-only tax will—as former Governor Ed Rendell made clear—unfairly hurt the city’s poorest residents while its wealthiest citizens will be able to avoid the tax altogether.

Media contact: Jerry Rogers 202.302.9783 / Jerry@capallies.com

Jerry Rogers is the founder of Capitol Allies, an independent, nonpartisan effort that promotes free enterprise, and he’s the co-host of  The LangerCast on the RELM Network.