Protect Maryland’s Working Families and Businesses from a Harmful Beverage Tax!

The Maryland General Assembly is considering a two-cent per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. This proposal will hike prices on products, increasing already too-expensive groceries across the state, hurting working families, local businesses and their employees hardest.

Costs of food, gas, utilities and housing are already far too high – Marylanders face the seventh highest cost of living in the country. The General Assembly should be fighting to relieve current economic burdens for them, not be forcing them to pay more for everyday grocery items.

Beverage Taxes Harm Hardworking Families

With food inflation and housing costs continuing to rise, now is not the time to institute what would be the largest beverage tax in the entire country.

A two-cent per ounce tax on beverages adds up quickly, with prices increasing by 60% or more on some beverages.

Cost of a 2-liter beverage bottle could increase by $1.35 – nearly doubling the price.

Cost of an 18-pack of 12 oz. sports drinks could increase by $4.32.

In other states, these taxes have driven hardworking families away from local businesses leading to job losses.

This increase won’t stop people from buying their favorite beverages. It will very likely drive customers across state lines to purchase them at a lower cost, dealing devastating blows to small businesses across the state already struggling to stay afloat. And more importantly this increase is proven to hurt those who can least afford it, particularly low-income families who will be disproportionately burdened by this regressive tax.

UC Davis: Lang, Hairu, Kristin Kiesel, and Richard J. Sexton. 2023. “How Well Are California’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes Working?” ARE Update 26(3): 1–4. University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.

Now is the time for Maryland Lawmakers to focus on the serious challenges facing our communities and prioritize solutions that benefit Marylanders.

Tell Your State Lawmaker

Say NO to this Harmful, Regressive Beverage Tax!

JOIN US TO PROTECT WORKING FAMILIES AND SMALL BUSINESSES IN MARYLAND

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