State Senator Chapin Rose says downstate Illinoisans should be concerned about Cook County’s controversial sales tax on sweetened beverages --- even though they don’t have to pay it.
Cook County officials have promoted the tax as a health measure to discourage high sugar consumption, as well as a way to raise revenue. But Rose says using taxes to discourage the use of corn syrup could hurt the price of corn, which is the top crop in Illinois.
"This may only be a marginal, negative impact on the overall price of corn. But when you’re a county the size of Cook County, that will have a direct consumption decrease as a cause of that, there will be negative consequences locally.”
Rose says the Cook County soda tax could also hurt corn syrup production at plants in Decatur run by ADM and Tate and Lyle.
Rose has introduced a bill in the Illinois Senate that would force Cook County to drop its penny-per-ounce soda tax. The bill matches two similar proposals in the Illinois House, one from each party.