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July 19, 2016

To: Boulder City Council

Re: Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax

Dear Boulder City Councilors,

The proposal to place a tax on sugary beverages in Boulder comes from an admirable notion to improve

public health however the details of the measure you’re considering tonight do not deserve your

support. Here are a few reasons for you to withhold your support:

The Boulder County Public Health Department and the Boulder Valley School District have the

mandate and the existing programming to address and educate children and indeed the entire

community on proper nutrition, diet, wellness and overall healthy living. A separate new tax on

certain items considered unhealthy is duplicative. BVSD says they have over “200 nutrition

education programs each year” at http://food.bvsd.org.

While trying to be narrow in its language, there is an arbitrary nature to the definitions of which

drinks qualify as sugary “enough” to therefore be taxed. Implementation will result in

inconsistent inclusion of drinks that the public would expect, or not expect, to be taxed.

Similarly, there is a lack of successful examples of such a policy being the exact cause of any

decreases in consumption or improvement in health outcomes.

The ballot language is not clear regarding how this measure squares with the Taxpayers’ Bill of

Rights (TABOR) and is likely to be challenged if it were to pass.

Finally, we also see this as being another brick in the wall of financial exclusion already inherent in

Boulder’s cost of living. We are having broad public discussions over who can afford to live here and this

is a tax that will regressively affect people of lesser incomes. On its own it is has dubious merit, in this

broader context it simply makes our city an even more expensive place to live. That is not the type of

city we are interested in creating; enough macro forces are causing our unaffordability as it is.

Thank you for considering these points. I will close with a prompt that the County’s and BVSD’s existing

efforts should be where to focus comprehensive public health efforts, not a new tax with unclear

programming intentions.

Sincerely,

Dan Powers Executive Director, Boulder Tomorrow

720-222-9602

dan@bouldertomorrow.com