A Billionaire Globalist Wants to Tell Filipinos What They Can and Can’t Drink
I have to say something that I feel is probably on the minds of many working families here in the Philippines: I am outraged at the proposed Duterte-Bloomberg tax on “sugary beverages.”
The tax reform package proposed by the Duterte administration (and heavily influenced by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg) proposes an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (“SSBs”).
Most of our drinks, with the exception of water, milk, and a few others, contain sugar. Juices, sodas, etc. It’s a common staple in our households.
The Duterte-Bloomberg tax would implement a huge tax increase on all sugary drinks sold in the Philippines.
Where the sugar absurdity began
What bothers me the most is that this all started in New York City with Mayor Bloomberg passing his soda ban, officially called the Sugary Drinks Portion Cap Rule. The rule was an absurd attempt to limit sugar consumption by limiting sodas to only 16 ounces in the city. Bloomberg was heavy handed and violated his residents’ right to choose for themselves how much soda they wanted to drink. (Even sillier, a consumer could just go buy two 16 ounce sodas if they wanted a larger amount).
Of course, that was in New York City. It’s none of my business what they choose to do there.
The insult to Filipinos
However, Michael Bloomberg — a billionaire nanny-state know-it-all globalist — stepped over the line when he targeted his global anti-sugar campaign toward the Philippines. How elitist, arrogant, and insulting for this man to point his finger at us Filipinos and — through taxation — essentially dictate what we should and shouldn’t eat or drink.
Even Chicago, a rich American city, is resisting Bloomberg’s push. One of the city’s newspapers, Illinois Business Daily, wrote about the political backlash to Bloomberg’s attempts to launch a $2 million online advertising campaign to convince Chicagoans to also have a sugary beverage tax. (That’s $2 million for just one city).
Bloomberg, who overall was a rather pointless mayor who bought his way into office, was just plain wrong about this. And now his actions are having the consequence of spreading anti-sugar measures everywhere; even here in the Philippines!
Lower-income families will suffer the most
Ironically, the Duterte-Bloomberg tax is going to hit the poorest the hardest. The Philippine Star has said that low-income households will get hit hardest by the sugary drink tax. According to AC-Nielsen, “80% of beverage consumers are low-income earners.”
For example, if the Duterte-Bloomberg tax is passed:
- A 1L sachet of powdered juice will increase from P9.00 to P20.00 (a 122% increase)
- 1L of soda will increase from P16.00 to P25.00 (a 56% increase)
- A 1L sachet of bottled iced tea will increase from P20.00 to P30.00 (a 50% increase)
Our Filipino-version of the “Bloomberg tax” should be carefully reconsidered.
To be clear, I generally support President Duterte. I just do not understand why a man of the people would support raising taxes on something we drink and enjoy. Increasing the tax upwards of 120% will just make life more expensive for hard-working families.
I’m just a concerned citizen — an amateur journalist at best. However, I’m writing this using an alias to protect myself. The administration has been coming after journalists recently.
