Vaugh Asking Council To Oppose Soda Taxes

By JIM REAGEN

Ogdensburg City Councilor Nicholas J. Vaugh wants the Ogdensburg City Council to join him in opposing Governor David Paterson's plan for an obesity tax on soft drinks and beverage syrups that would raise prices to consumers and jeopardize local jobs.

Mr. Paterson's 2010-11 proposed state budget calls for a "penny an ounce" tax on soft drinks and a $38 tax on five gallon containers of syrup sold to local restaurants and bars.

"This new tax would be on top of the new 'Bigger, Better Bottle' deposit tax which is costing consumers and businesses an extra 6.5 cents for each bottle of water," Mr. Vaugh said in a prepared statement. "160,000 New Yorkers are employed in the soft drink business including 50 people at the Pepsi bottling plant in Ogdensburg. The industry estimates 6,000 New Yorkers could lose their jobs if the Soda Tax is passed."

"The Soda Tax will threaten local jobs and force families to stretch their budgets even further then they are now. The Soda Tax is no way to put some pop back into the North Country's economy," said Mr. Vaugh.

Vaugh's first-in-the-state local resolution, calls on state leaders and local legislators Assemblywoman Addie Jenne Russell, D-Theresa, and Senator Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, to stop the Soda Tax from becoming law.

"This resolution is no symbolic gesture. My challenge to Assemblywoman Russell and Senator Aubertine is put North Country families and jobs first, not greedy New York City special interests," said Mr. Vaugh, who noted that Russell and Aubertine voted for the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill last year. "There's still time for them to do the right thing for the North Country and stop the Soda Tax from becoming law."

A rally to oppose the soft drink tax is scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on the steps of the Ogdensburg City Hall.