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In Their Own Words
A Call to Keep Philadelphia’s Soda Tax
For Seven Years, Revenue Has Supported Education, Community Projects, and Better Health Outcomes
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The following excerpt is from an op-ed originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 27, 2025.
Last week, City Council held a hearing on the future of the city’s sweetened beverage tax, with some members suggesting it should be reversed. As health policy researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, we have studied this tax since its 2017 debut. The data on its effects are clear: The tax improves residents’ health while generating game-changing revenue for schools, libraries, and construction jobs.
Repealing the tax would be a grave mistake that would harm Philadelphia’s children and put a wrecking ball to a host of rebuilding efforts that have helped transform city neighborhoods.
Philadelphia is the largest city in the nation with a sweetened beverage tax. We place a 1.5 cents-per-ounce tax on sweetened drinks, leading to an average price increase of about 30%. We’ve had the levy for more than seven years, and it has funded the city’s largest public works program in recent history.
Councilmember Jim Harrity has argued that Philadelphia should consider repealing the tax based on claims not well supported by evidence. Harrity asserts that the tax hurts businesses because Philadelphians are buying less soda and other sugary drinks and shopping for groceries in nearby counties without a tax, causing soda companies to lay off workers and supermarkets to close.
Read the full op-ed here.
Authors
Christina Roberto, PhD
Mitchell J. Blutt and Margo Krody Blutt Presidential Professor, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine
Associate Director, Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics
Alyssa J. Moran, ScD, MPH
Director of Policy and Research Strategy at the PEACH Lab, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
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