Dori: Seattle mayor’s soda tax ‘full bore insanity’

Taken from Friday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

More insanity from Mike McMginn, as Mike McGinn and Ed Murray are trying to out-pander the other to see who can be the farthest left in their bid to see who can be the mayor of Seattle.

Mike McGinn, (Thursday) night, was talking to a parks forum, the Seattle Parks Foundation. And McGinn said if you reelect me, I’ll put a soda tax in to raise money for parks.

And the question I have is, did he actually plan this out and analyze it for weeks and say I’m going to unveil my grand proposal for parks funding or, as I suspect about Mike McGinn because he was in front of the Seattle Parks Foundation, did he just spontaneously blurt out in an effort to buy their votes, vote for me and I’ll put a tax on soda and raise money for parks?

Because I really think that’s how he tends to operate in a lot of ways. That he just will say, especially in the last nine months or so, whatever he thinks the audience in front of him wants to hear.

Now, I don’t drink much soda pop anymore, I went cold turkey for about five weeks. I maybe will have one can a day now after drinking six cans a day for 30 years. So would this tax impact me? Hardly at all, if at all. But that’s not the point.

What does soda tax have to do with parks? Nothing. Remember a few years ago when Greg Nickels wanted a Starbucks tax? He wanted to tax lattes to pay for preschool. And people said there’s no connection between the two.

And I want you to understand how gigantic a tax this is. Back when I was drinking a lot of pop, I’d wait until there was a good sale, and a good sale on a 12-pack of Diet Coke is $3. It’s a penny per ounce. That’s 144 ounces in a 12-pack. That’s a $1.44 tax on a $3 purchase, and you’re already paying 10 percent tax because it’s not exempt. So that means you take the 10 percent and add another 48 percent. What Mike McGinn wants is a 58 percent on soda pop in the city of Seattle.

Is this fair? Is this right? It is just outrageous. You know why the revolution happened? Because the British were imposing taxes that were usurious against the Colonies. And when Mike McGinn’s talking about a 58 percent tax, then you know the insanity is full bore for him.

Taken from Friday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

Related:

Seattle mayor considering penny per ounce soda tax

JK