17 Jun 2016

US city introduces tax on sweet fizzy drinks

12:34 pm on 17 June 2016

Philadelphia has become the first major American city to impose a tax on sweet fizzy drinks.

The tax will add 1.5 cents per ounce to the cost of drinks containing sugar.

A typical 12-ounce or 355-millilitre container of soda will now cost an additional 18 US cents.

The move by the city council in the fifth-largest US city is considered a major blow to the powerful soda industry which, according to the Washington Post, has successfully fended off 45 similar tax efforts around the country.

One other city, Berkeley in California, implemented a soda tax in 2014, but its population is far smaller than Philadelphia's.

Oakland, California, and Boulder, Colorado, are considering similar taxes.