Philadelphia decided that to protect the public that it would levy a tax on “sugary drinks.” Predictable results followed. Well, predictable to everyone but the legislators.

For now, Kenney and other city officials seem unfazed – dismissive, even – the problems caused by the new tax. A city spokesman told Philly.com that no one knows whether low sales figures and predicted job losses are anything more than “fear-mongering to prevent this from happening in other cities.”
Kenney put an even finer point on it.
“I didn’t think it was possible for the soda industry to be any greedier,” Kenney said in an emailed statement to Philly.com reporter Julia Terruso. “They are so committed to stopping this tax from spreading to other cities, that they are not only passing the tax they should be paying onto their customer, they are actually willing to threaten working men and women’s jobs rather than marginally reduce their seven figure bonuses.”

(Emphasis mine)

The Philly council actually believed that the businesses wouldn’t pass on their increased costs by making the tax between the distributor and the retailer.

Except businesses don’t pay taxes. Businesses never pay taxes. Oh sure, taxes are levied against businesses all the time, and businesses send money to the government to satisfy those levies. Ultimately, all the money to pay those taxes come from individuals – almost always from the consumers. Do you know what they call a company that doesn’t pass their additional tax burdens onto the consumers? Bankrupt.

The other part of this debacle is that the city’s already spent what they estimated to raise from businesses with this tax. So, the customer is still getting stuck with the bill. Except this time it’s coming from the government. You know, the ones who send men with guns out if you don’t pay them.