Cook County Soda Tax: Retail Group Appeals Judge's Decision To Dismiss Lawsuit

On the eve before Cook County's controversial sweetened beverage tax is set to go into effect, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association is making another 11th-hour attempt to derail the measure after a judge on Friday dismissed the group's lawsuit that argued the penny-per-ounce tax was vague and unlawful. The organization announced its decision to appeal last week's ruling Tuesday evening, stating on its Facebook page that it was "[l]ooking forward to our day in court."

The last-minute move is similar to the IRMA's first attempt at stopping Cook County's so-called soda tax. On June 30, the group filed a lawsuit June 30 and asked for a temporary injunction to delay the tax from starting July 1. While a judge granted the injunction, he ultimately dismissed the group's lawsuit last week, claiming it was not unconstitutional and clearly stated what it intended to do. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Chicago — or your neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

In its appeal, the retail group wants to determine if Cook County Judge Daniel Kubasiak used the proper standards when he dismissed the lawsuit, according to the Chicago Tribune. As with the original lawsuit, the appeal still contends that the new tax is inconsistent in how it is to be applied, the report added.

RELATED: Cook Co. Soda Tax Starts Wednesday: What It Means For Soft Drink Purchases

Under the tax, consumers buying sugary beverages — that includes carbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks that aren't 100 percent juice and other sweetened beverages — would be charged 1 cent on every ounce purchased. But the group has pointed to coffee drinks to illustrate the tax's unfairness. For instance, a bottled coffee drink sold in a store would be taxed as a sweetened beverage, but a similar drink made by a coffee shop employee wouldn't.

Before the IRMA announced its appeal Tuesday, the Can the Tax Coalition, another opponent of the measure, urged county commissioners to strike down the soda tax.

“Now is the time for Cook County commissioners who say they represent every day working families to stand up for them and repeal this destructive tax before Cook County becomes the next Philadelphia where consumers have fled across the border, people working paycheck to paycheck was laid off or had their hours cut and neighborhood businesses experienced enormous sales declines," the group said in a statement earlier Tuesday.

The continued opposition to the soda tax, even this close to it beginning, hasn't surprised county officials. Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who spearheaded the tax, told the Tribune that this legal back and forth was expected, and the county "will continue to vigorously defend the ordinance and expect to prevail, as we did in the initial round of hearings."

More via the Chicago Tribune

Image via Illinois Retail Merchants Association

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