In S. Philly, talk of health, Jarritos, and a 'horrible' soda tax

The city's proposed soda tax was the talk of El Soto bodega in South Philadelphia on Thursday, where owner Julio Soto has Coke in the cooler but diabetes on his mind.

"There's a customer who gives his 10-year-old too much soda," said Soto, 29, a Mexican immigrant who's had the store for five years. "I tell him, 'Your kid will get sick from the sugar real soon, man.' He doesn't listen. I keep my kids" - daughter Crystal, 7, and son Christian, 3 - "off the sweet stuff."

But patrons are into bubbles and sugar in a big way, Soto said, and a new tax won't slow consumption.

"It's the same with cigarettes," he said. Smokes are taxed to the moon, but "people still work hard to make enough money to buy them."

"That's how it will be with soda. People want their cold, sweet beverages in the summertime."

Nutrition-savvy, Soto knows from calories and fructose. He is what you might describe as radicalized in the tenets of healthy eating, thanks to his participation in the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, piloted by the Food Trust of Philadelphia, partnering with the city's Department of Public Health. The initiative, which includes 500 stores citywide, aims to support corner stores in selling healthier products.

And sure enough, Soto has lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats in his two-aisle place on the corner of 15th and Tasker Streets.

But he still hawks soda, including Jarritos, the much-desired sweet Mexican soft drink that Soto says Latinos love. A guy's got to make a living, after all.

The tax's latest version, which cleared a City Council committee Wednesday night and is poised for a final vote next week, is 1.5 cents per ounce, adding 18 cents to the cost of a 12-ounce can, $1 to a 2-liter bottle, and $2.16 to a 12-pack - for distributors. Unknown is how much would be passed on to consumers.

The consumers filing in and out of Soto's so-clean-you-could-eat-off-the-floor store Thursday offered differing views on the tax.

A few saw it as another American overreach, with Big Brother sorting through our collective pantry once again, dictating what's good for us and what's garbage.

"I think the tax is horrible," said Kevin Loutzenhiser, 39, a salesman from Cherry Hill. "People are poor enough with no money as it is. They just can't afford it."

He spoke with sadness about a man who had lost his store because Philadelphia's cigarette taxes drove customers across City Avenue to Bala Cynwyd to buy butts.

Loutzenhiser's thoughts ran parallel to those of Larry Ceisler, spokesman for the No Philly Grocery Tax Coalition, which is largely funded by the American Beverage Association. "Low-income people not being able to pay was always part of our argument," Ceisler said when contacted later in the day.

He also contended that the health argument had been undercut by extending the proposed tax to diet drinks, a logical alternative to sugary soda that now won't be an option.

At El Soto, the tax just might have the proposed effect of slowing one consumer's sweet-drink consumption. "I love Pepsi, that's my weakness," said Melissa Laquandra, a 30-year-old Comcast employee. "But it'll be more expensive, and it makes me think I'll be better off with water. And water's free."

To be sure, several customers aligned with Angela Daniels, 32, a teacher in the neighborhood, who simply doesn't care one way or the other about a soda tax.

"I drink soda here and there," she said. "I no longer have acne, so drinking sugar won't bother me. I will pay the extra money."

As the Food Network played on Soto's in-store television (the Pioneer Woman was cooking something healthy in Oklahoma), Soto waxed philosophical.

"It'll be good for people if they decide not to buy so much soda from me," he said. "It won't really hurt my business."

Of course, there's still plenty of sugar to be had at El Soto, hidden in the pasta sauce, the bread, the dressing - not to mention the Frosted Flakes and the outrageously pink Mexican pastries, conchas.

No one is taxing the sugar in those products.

Not yet, anyway.

alubrano@phillynews.com

215-854-4969@AlfredLubrano