Clinton Supports Philly Soda Tax

Hillary Clinton was back in Philadelphia this week stumping for votes as the Pennsylvania primary nears, and local press got the opportunity to take her opinion on Mayor Jim Kenney’s controversial, proposed “soda tax” which would implement a 3-cent-per-ounce levy on all sugary drinks. In short? Clinton is a fan of the measure.

Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in Pennsylvania.

CNN reports that Clinton called herself “very supportive” of not only the tax, but the idea of universal pre-kindergarten education, which is the cause behind the movement. She was speaking in the City of Brotherly Love at a Mothers of the Movement forum organized by a group that is pro-gun control.

Clinton referred to the national trend towards pre-K programs as a “cradle to college pipeline” that could replace the “school to prison” one that is so often derided in the press. “It starts early with working with families, working with kids, building up community resources… I’m very supportive of the mayor’s proposal to tax soda to get universal pre-school for kids,” Clinton said. “I mean, we need universal pre-school. And if that’s a way to do it, that’s how we should do it.”

Mayor Kenney rolled out the soda tax proposal in early March to great fanfare, despite the fact that his predecessor Mayor Michael Nutter had failed to get an even lower soda tax instituted during his term in office. Of course, we all know that it ended badly when New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to eliminate super-sized sodas from the streets of the Big Apple. Even when it’s for a good cause – like educating their children – people tend not to like having their soda messed with. It remains to be seen whether Clinton’s support of the measure will make any difference in its eventual fate.