The progressive city of Seattle has enacted a new tax on sugary drinks. This is normally called a soda tax, but in Seattle it also applies to beverages like Gatorade. The tax is so severe, that it almost doubles the cost of products.

Costco is quietly fighting back by reminding customers that they don’t have to buy beverages in the city. KING 5 News reports:

Don’t like Seattle’s sugary drink tax? Costco invites you to shop outside the city Costco letting its customers know that if they don’t like Seattle’s new sugary drink tax, they are more than welcome to shop at its warehouse stores outside the city. Jason Mercier from Washington Policy Center, which opposed the tax, shot a photo from inside a Seattle Costco that showed the price for a Gatorade 35-bottle variety pack was $15.99. That is until you add the new tax, which bumps it up by $10.34 for a total of $26.33. Costco also posted an explainer of the new tax, saying it adds 1.75-cents per ounce on “sugar sweetened beverages with added ‘caloric sweeteners’ or syrups. Then the store posted a reminder that shoppers can go to their Tukwila and Shoreline Costcos to avoid the tax.

See the tweet below:

Holy sugary drink tax! Finally saw this w/ my own eyes. $10.34 of tax on a pack of Gatorade @Costco in #Seattle. ???? Costco also reminding you hey – no tax on this outside the city. Thoughts?? @KIRO7Seattle pic.twitter.com/xN2C4Csoe7 — Deedee Sun (@DeedeeKIRO7) January 5, 2018

See below for the stunning amount of the tax:

ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! Check out these prices at Costco now that the Soda and #SugarTax has taken affect in the Seattle area. 1.75 cents per fluid ounce. Pics @DevinSenaUI & @HaydenBedsole pic.twitter.com/RcsPY4e8L4 — Tim Williams (@realtimwilliams) January 6, 2018

Liberal media outlets have pretty much ignored the story because let’s face it, they love the idea of taxes like this one. If Trump imposed a soda tax and Costco rebelled, they’d be held up as civil rights heroes.

Tom Blumer of NewsBusters reports:

Not National News: Costco Pushes Back Against Seattle’s Sugary Drink Tax The City of Seattle probably didn’t expect pushback from Costco, seen by many on the left as retail’s “anti-Walmart,” after its “sugary drink” tax of 1.75 cents per ounce went into effect January 1. But that is exactly what has happened. In moves the national press, which largely supports such taxes, has thus far ignored, Costco is itemizing the built-in cost of the tax on its Seattle store’s shelf tags, and informing customers that they won’t pay the tax if they shop at one of two other Costco stores outside Seattle’s city limits… The most recent result found in a search at the Associated Press on the tax was a “here it comes” item published in late December. Google News searches indicate that there has been virtually no establishment press interest outside the Northwest. The press is rarely interested in letting its readers know when nanny-state ideas targeting behavior aren’t working out as intended.



