The city of Philadelphia ushered in 2017 with a big tax on more than 1,000 beverages and residents aren’t happy about it. As Reason.com reports, Philadelphians doing their grocery shopping on Jan. 1 faced unwelcome price hikes on their favorite drinks due to the city’s new 1.5 cent per ounce tax on beverages.

Philadelphians have taken to social media to express their outrage, posting photos of receipts showing the soaring prices. Reason.com highlighted one such example in which a shopper paid more than $3 in tax on a 12-pack of beverages that cost $5.99.

According to Reason.com, local businesses are worried the higher prices caused by the tax hike will drive people to do their shopping outside the city. “Small businesses interviewed by Reason in October expressed similar concerns, since the tax is applied not only to cans and bottles of soda, but to soda fountains (like the ones found in many pizza places and cheesesteak joints across Philadelphia) too,” reported Reason.com. “Already, those predictions seem to be coming true, at least anecdotally.”

The fact of the matter is when government raises taxes, they are always passed onto consumers in some form. And the people of Philadelphia are seeing this basic economic principle play out first hand. Unfortunately, it is the families who can least afford it who end up taking the hardest hit from these regressive and unfair taxes.