Baltimore Passes Soda Tax, Pepsi Closes Plant in Baltimore.

Baltimore Sun:

The Pepsi plant in Baltimore will no longer make soda, and the company plans to lay off 77 people as officials have decided to stop manufacturing operations — a decision they blame in part on a controversial new beverage tax in the city.

The last cans and 2-liter bottles of Pepsi-Cola, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew and other sodas ran through the production line Monday morning. Executives at Pepsi Beverages Co. told workers in meetings later in the day that production would be halted for good. Pepsi officials said they would work out details regarding the layoffs, including potential severance, with the local Teamsters union.

Kristine Hinck, a company spokeswoman, said, “Given the climate, making a beverage in a city where there is a beverage tax certainly doesn’t help.” – Ya think?

You would have thought that Maryland would have learned its lesson after the state lost massive revenue after it imposed its now infamous “millionaire’s tax”.

I am going to go buy a case of Diet Pepsi today.