The Philadelphia beverage tax has missed the mark once again. According to an article from the Philadelphia Business Journal, beverage tax collections fell short in July after coming up millions of dollars below projections for the first six months of the tax.
The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that the city collected “less than what the city would need to average on a monthly basis to hit its yearly fiscal projection of more than $90 million.”
So during the peak of summer when beverage sales traditionally spike, revenue from the tax declined with the city bringing in less in July than it did in June.
"The fact that the mayor couldn’t meet his beverage tax collections figure for a period covering the Fourth of July holiday and the height of the summer highlights his faulty projections,” said Anthony Campisi of the Ax the Bev Tax Coalition.
No wonder the Wall Street Journal called Philadelphia’s beverage tax a “bust” and the Tax Foundation labeled it as “failing.” The experience of Philadelphia shows us that taxes not only raise prices, cost jobs and hurt small businesses, they are not the revenue boon politicians promise.