John Fetterman Supports Soda Taxes & Claims They Aren’t Regressive, But Bernie Sanders Begs To Differ

Soda taxes are once again back in the news thanks to several recent developments. First, Vermont’s Democrat-run state legislature passed a bill on April 30 setting up a commission to study an excise tax on sugar sweetened beverages and estimate how much such a levy could generate for state coffers. A few weeks later on May 17, the Democratic nomination for the battleground U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania was won by John Fetterman, the commonwealth’s Lt. Governor and a vocal supporter of soda excise taxes.

The Democrats’ Senate nominee in the Keystone State is such a passionate advocate for soda taxes that he wrote a 2016 column for Philly Magazine defending the soda excise tax enacted that year in Philadelphia. In his column, Fetterman wrote “anyone who would label the soda tax regressive doesn’t understand poverty, and has likely never had to overcome those kinds of policies personally. The only logical explanation for how the soda tax came to be labeled ‘regressive’ is that it was pushed by the powerful soda industry.”

Rebutting Fetterman’s claim that a beverage industry public relations campaign is the only reason soda taxes are seen as regressive is the most well known Democratic Socialist in the nation, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Senator Sanders takes issue with Fetterman’s assertion about soda taxes and their regressivity.

“The mechanism here is fairly regressive,” Sanders said in 2016 when asked about the Philadelphia soda tax. “And that is, it will be increasing taxes on low income and working people.”

Along with Fetterman, Hillary Clinton was also a high profile supporter of the Philadelphia soda tax, which was enacted amidst the backdrop of the 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders, in contrast, expressed his vehement opposition to soda taxes numerous times on the campaign trail.

“You don’t have to fund childcare on the backs of the poorest people in this city,” Sanders said while speaking out against the Philadelphia soda tax pushed by Fetterman and Clinton. “That’s a regressive way to raise funds.”

Unfortunately for Fetterman, the reason soda taxes are called regressive by Sanders and others is because such excise taxes fit the literal definition of regressive, in that they force low- and middle-income households to part with a greater share of their income in order to pay the tax. Fetterman argues that the soda tax is not really regressive because those from limited means will simply stop drinking soda rather than pay the tax.

“You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to understand that if the price of a non-essential product goes up, those with limited income are most likely to avoid it,” Fetterman wrote. “The soda tax can’t be a tax on the poor if the poor aren’t buying soda.”

According to Fetterman’s logic, a punitive tax is not regressive so long as the rate is set so high that low income households can no longer afford the product on which the tax is imposed. If a legislature raised the state gas tax rate so high that low income households could no longer afford to buy gas, that wouldn’t mean the gas tax isn’t regressive. It would mean such a prohibitively high gas tax is extremely regressive, so much so that low income households can no longer even afford to fill up their tanks. The same goes for a soda tax.

Fetterman seems to believe that imposing a regressive soda tax so high that only affluent households can afford to buy Coca-Cola and Pepsi means the tax somehow does not disproportionately harm low income households. It will be interesting to see how well that argument works with voters. If Fetterman is elected this November, he’ll have a Senate colleague in Joe Manchin who represents a state where a unanimous and bipartisan majority of legislators recently repealed a state level soda tax.

West Virginia has imposed a state soda excise tax since 1951. In March, on the last day of the 2022 legislative session, with a 94-0 vote the West Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that will phase out the soda tax by 2024. That bill, SB 533, had also been approved by both Democrats and Republicans in the West Virginia Senate with a unanimous vote.

“There have been many in the Legislature for a long time who recognize that singling out a single product like soda pop for a special tax has been unfair,” said West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump (R) after voting to repeal the tax. While all members of the West Virginia Legislature recognize that the soda tax unfairly singles out one product, Fetterman, along with lawmakers in Vermont and other states, make it clear that the West Virginia Legislature’s bipartisan consensus on soda taxes is not present in all states.

So we have one state, Joe Manchin’s West Virginia, where a soda tax was recently repealed with unanimous bipartisan majorities; and another, Vermont, where legislators are now studying a soda tax. Meanwhile Democrats have nominated a vocal soda tax advocate in a rust belt state battleground Senate race. The Fetterman campaign was asked if Fetterman would introduce or at least support a federal soda tax if he’s elected this November. This article will be updated to include Fetterman’s response if one is provided. We’ll soon find out if the same guy who champions a sweetened beverage tax so high that some low-income households can’t afford to buy Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, or Pepsi is able to sell the blue collar “Everyman” act in Pennsylvania.