The Boston City Council on Wednesday will consider a request from Councilor Sharon Durkan to look at a “sugar-sweetened beverage tax” as a way to curb various health woes – in large part by raising money that could be used to fight scourges such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Durkan (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) says Boston should join several other cities, including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boulder, Oakland and Seattle, which now use money from taxes on sweetened beverages, including soda, sports drinks and tea, for public-health efforts, in particular in minority communities that consume more sweetened drinks.
In her formal request to send the measure to a committee for a public hearing and possible drafting of an ordinance, Durkan writes:…