Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

Sure and begorrah they were wearin' the green in the Senate tax committee on Wednesday, but nary a nod to St. Paddy.

No. They were carloads of 7-Up employees in company t-shirts arrived to fight a proposed new tax on soda pop and other sugary drinks.

And they were outdone by Pepsi, which sent two buses full of mostly blue uniformed workers from Johnson County. Coca-Cola people came from Wichita. They wore red and black.

"Looks like we finally figured out how to draw a crowd," said Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, the committee's chairman.

The hearing room and hallway were mostly filled by opponents of Senate Bill 567.

As written, it would create a levy of 1 cent per teaspoon of sugar for the makers or "first vendors" of sweetened beverages. But before testimony began Donovan told the crowd the bill would not leave the committee until the proposed tax was shaved to 4/10ths of a penny per teaspoon.

"You should know that going in," he said.

That didn't make a difference to the opponents. They said it was a bad idea anyway.

"Cost jobs"

"This could really harm our industry and cost jobs," said Mike Meurer, speaking on behalf of vending machine merchandisers.

The opposition was varied and included large- and small-business operators and the Teamsters' Union, whose members drive beverage delivery trucks.

Mike Derham, a Pepsi teamster from Olathe, didn't testify, but he sat on the front row in his work clothes. He was there on company time, but he said he didn't like the bill regardless. Government taxes people too much already, federal spending is out of control and he wants to keep the good job he's had with Pepsi for 25 years.

"I've raised five kids with it," he said.

Most of the opponents said a new tax on soft drinks would hurt business and cost jobs. Some also said as a tax law it would be difficult or impossible for the revenue department to enforce and too confusing or administratively difficult for compliance by beverage vendors.

Lawmakers after cutting budgets about $1.3 billion the past two years are facing a projected $450 million budget gap for the fiscal year that begins July 1. They must raise taxes, cut spending or some of both to keep the state budget balanced as required by the Kansas Constitution.

The Senate tax committee the past two weeks has been holding hearings on a number of proposals, including bills that would raise taxes on tobacco, alcohol and general sales.

Donovan earlier this week offered his own plan for consideration. It would raise $340 million and would increase soda pop, cigarette, alcohol and sales taxes a little bit each.

Committee members will begin working on all the bills they have heard on Thursday.

Soda pop and sickness

Health advocates and those who are trying to block deeper cuts to social services and education testified in favor of the soda pop bill.

Dr. Jason Eberhart Phillips, state health officer, told the committee that soft drinks have no nutritional value despite the calories and don't fill people up like healthy drinks do. So, it is easy for people to drink them and get fat. Obesity leads to a range of expensive, chronic health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

He said obesity associated with lack of exercise and poor nutrition contributed to 3,700 Kansas deaths each year and that this year one in four dollars spent on health care would go for treating obesity-related illness. He said obesity costs Kansans more than $650 million a year in health costs.

Craig Gunther of the Kansas State Nurses Association said the obesity rate in Kansas has doubled since 1992 to include 28 percent of adults. One in four students grades 9 through 12 are overweight or nearly overweight, he said, explaining why nurses like the bill.

Opponents had their own arguments. They said beverage companies had already removed sugary drinks from vending machines in public schools.

And John Barnes, president of the Kansas Beverage Association, said, "soda pop isn't what makes my kid fat, it's video games. Let's tax them."

John Laurie, a former Overland Park high school principal who now is a professor at Baker University in Baldwin City, spoke to the committee "as a character witness" for Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

He said the beverage companies were good corporate citizens who voluntarily removed sugary drinks from the high schools where he worked and also helped out with scholarships and athletic department needs.

Spokesmen for Hy-Vee supermarkets and Balls Food Stores in Kansas City said the tax would send customers to Missouri to shop. Trying to figure out how to collect the tax would be a nightmare, said Michael Beal, a Balls vice president.

"Retailers have no idea how much sugar is in a beverage," he said.

Gallons and gallons

The committee was given written testimony by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University. According to the center, Kansas adults drink an average of 203 gallons of soft drinks and fruit drinks per year.

The tax as spelled out in SB 567 would generate about $90 million a year for the state treasury, making it clear that soda pop is a big deal to a lot of people.

Dennis White, owner of Bash Riprocks, an Olathe bar and restaurant, said most of the profit is gone from selling food anymore because customers expect low prices and all-you-can-eat specials. That leaves beverages as a major profit generator for businesses such as his.

"With the ability to make money being continually drained out of the food we sell," he said, "the beverage side of our business continues to grow in importance."

White said he formerly employed 37 people but he's now down to 22 because of the economic downturn.