Arkansas Soda Tax
The Arkansas soda tax of 1992 levied a two cents per 12oz of soda excise tax, with all the proceeds going towards the state Medicaid fund. It is still in place today.
Cry Wolf Quotes
People on the other side of the issue, I understand where they're coming from. They want their product funded. But my industry is paying the tax to some degree. That's the bottom line. Admittedly, some of the tax is passed on, but my restaurant and food service operators are paying some of this tax out of their own pocket.
The tax took away our ability to accumulate funds to replace assets. We were strapped for cash flow.
We're funding a program that has a lot of merit. But if it's so important, then everyone should be taxed, not just us.
We just feel that it is really an unnecessary tax. There may have been some problems in Medicaid, but we point to the large amounts of fraud.
