Posted on 03/08/25
| News Source: WMAR2NEWS
Baltimore MD - March 8, 2025 - For two hours, members of the Ways and Means committee debated a proposal to raise $500 million for the state.
Taxing drinks with added sugar.
Delegate Emily Shetty, a Democrat from Montgomery County, says the tax would lead to better health among Marylanders.
"This bill is a public health bill," said Shetty. "It will decrease consumption of sweetened beverages while investing in universal school meals for children, boosting our child care scholarship program and making a sizable dent in our structural deficit," she added.
The bill puts a two cent per ounce tax on all drinks with added sugars that do not have a health benefit.
Republicans questioned the impacts on businesses that they say will pass this tax on to the consumer.
"If you added $1.36 to a product you sell for $3.49 I guarantee you your profit margin on the $3.49 bottle of soda is probably, it's in maybe the dimes, so if you ate the $1.36 tax you're losing money by selling this soda and that's just economics they're going to have to pass this along in order to stay in business," said Delegate Jason Buckel.
While democrats questioned retailers, on why it's okay for manufacturers to increase profits but not the state.
"Their revenues have gone up significantly as well, so it's not just their costs their revenues, their margins are increasing, so my question is why is it different when they raise costs to boost their revenues than when we try to set this 2 cent per ounce tax," said Delegate Joe Vogel.
"I'm just saying for my business that when you increase the food costs for our consumers those are dollars that are taken out of our state," a member of a panel against the tax responded.
Workers at companies who manufacture, bottle, transport and sell soda in the state fear it could lead to layoffs.
The bill is one of many plans that would increase and change how people in Maryland are taxed introduced during this legislative session.
The bill is also facing an important deadline for legislation that must be passed out of the original chamber by the seventeenth of March.