Bottled Water Tax Woes

by Nikki Gloudeman · 2010-02-22 17:19:00 UTC
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Last week, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed a state sales tax on bottled water. Already, retailers are making a stink —and if history is any indication, it's only going to get worse.

Three years ago, Chicago became the first city to approve a tax on bottled water. A year later, the International Bottled Water Association filed a lawsuit, claiming the tax was unlawful and would "significantly increase the cost of this healthy, safe product." The IBWA has been key in opposing similar statewide proposals in Hawaii and Michigan (the latter was also opposed by bottled water manufacturer Nestle).

Every time the IBWA wins another battle, the environment suffers. More than 47 million gallons of of oil are used each year to produce water bottles. Taking bottled water off the market would be equivalent to taking 100,000 cars off the road. Almost 90 percent of those bottles are thrown away, and they can take thousands of years to biodegrade, killing wildlife in the process.

Bottled water behemoths and retailers have a go-to talking point in their war on taxes: Taxes hurt the low-income consumer. But their claim ignores a very simple fact. Except in rare and extreme circumstances, no one needs to buy bottled water. The commodity is a relatively recent phenomenon, having nearly doubled in market size over the last decade alone. Before that, people regularly relied on tap water, a product that is better regulated, often tastes better, and costs 240 to 10,000 times less than bottled water — before any additional tax. If lobbies and corporations were really looking out for the low-income consumer, they would ditch their product altogether and encourage people to invest in a reusable bottle.

The Washington governor's proposal has the potential to help the local economy during a difficult time, and reverse some of the environmental damage the bottled water industry has wrought. But unless people fight for the legislation — which seems unlikely, given that it involves a consumer tax — the lobbies and corporations may win again, and continue lining their pockets at the environment's expense.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Nikki Gloudeman is a senior fellow at Mother Jones magazine where she writes about the environment and other topics.
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