mother jones

“It stunned many progressives to hear Sanders attack Philadelphia’s plan to tax sugary drinks; he called soda taxes regressive and came out swinging”, writes Anne Lappé in Mother Jones. “Like health advocates across the country, I think Sanders got it wrong: These taxes in fact reflect the progressive values he holds dear. It’s the very communities Sanders says he’s trying to protect that have been at the beating heart of campaigns for soda taxes. As a resident of Berkeley, California, the first city in the United States that has passed a tax of this kind, and as someone who has been working to sound the alarm on the epidemic of diet-related illnesses for years, I have had a ringside seat at the battle against Big Soda. And I think that if Sanders had firsthand knowledge of the fight, he too might be moved to see these taxes differently.”