The repeal is a big victory for the vigorous lobbies of makers of fizzy drinks. It was a setback for Toni Preckwinkle, the president of Cook County Board, and Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, who, as mayor, unsuccessfully tried to introduce the tax in America’s biggest city, and then poured millions of dollars into the campaign for its introduction in the third-largest city.
William Dermody of the American Beverage Association, a lobby group, was jubilant claiming the repeal of the tax showed that “beverage taxes are really a money grab that has nothing to do with public health”. Ms. Preckwinkle tried to put a brave face on her defeat. “It is up to the commissioners to choose our direction on revenue, and I respect their authority to do so,” she said in a statement on October 11th.
Yet the tax had a bad start. An early
