City Council Holds Hearings on Nutter's Trash and Soda Taxes

by KYW's Steve Tawa

Philadelphia City Council held a daylong hearing Wednesday on two components of Mayor Nutter's proposed budget: the controversial new taxes on sodas and trash collection (see related stories).

At the hearing, the folks holding signs in the back of Council chambers could be polite only so long. During city health commissioner Donald Schwarz's testimony on taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (above), the catcalls began:

"A family that drinks a two-liter bottle of soda..." (boos, hisses)

The Nutter administration's spin was that the proposed two-cent-per-ounce soda tax could lead to less consumption, and healthier lifestyles.

Using that methodology, councilman Bill Green could not understand why the Nutter administration was pushing a flat $300 trash fee rather than having city residents pay $1 per bag of trash:

"A pay-as-you-throw system diverts much more waste into recycling. A (fixed) trash fee does not promote recycling in the least."

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