Family-Owned Bakery Closes, Says New City Soda Tax Was The “Kill Shot”

Philadelphia’s new soda tax is having an impact, just not the one liberal officials promised. At least one local business has closed recently and the owners are blaming the soda tax.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

Overbrook bakery closes, blames city soda tax

CC Orlando & Sons, which baked countless wedding and holy communion cakes and pastries since its founding on an Overbrook corner in 1948, closed after business Sunday.

The Orlando family cited not only the challenges of the baking business in these days of ubiquitous Dunkin’ Donuts shops and 24-hour supermarkets but the city’s 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages and a recent rise in property assessments.

“The soda tax was the kill shot,” said Anthony Voci Jr., a grandson of Christopher Columbus “Chick” Orlando and now a lawyer in Philadelphia.

Chick Orlando started in the baking business with his father in the 1930s with a shop in West Philadelphia, and ran several shops in the city and Delaware County until he was killed by a drunken driver while making a delivery shortly before Christmas 1971. His sons David and Robert took over Orlando’s.

The business’ last owner, Tyler Orlando, 32, also a grandson, said business was off 60 percent since the soda tax went into effect Jan. 1 – a difficult situation for a low-margin business. Orlando said his customers simply crossed the nearby city line to avoid the higher prices for juices, milk and other sweetened drinks typically purchased with doughnuts and pastries. “I’d see my customers in there,” he said. “I don’t blame them.”

The worst part about this is that most liberals just won’t care. They want high tax policies and see the destruction of business and jobs as a small price to pay in order to advance their agenda.

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