OGDENSBURG, NY - Nick Vaugh, Ogdensburg City Councilor, today introduced new legislation opposing Governor Paterson’s plan for a “Soda Tax” on soft drinks and beverage syrups.

Paterson’s 2010-11 proposed state budget calls for a "penny an ounce" tax on soft drinks and a $38 tax on five gallon bags of syrup sold to local restaurants and bars. This new tax would be on top of the new “Bigger, Better Bottle” deposit tax which is costing consumers and businesses an extra 6.5 cents for each bottle of water.

Vaugh noted 160,000 New Yorkers are employed in the soft drink business including 50 people at the Pepsi bottling plant in Ogdensburg.  The industry estimates 6,000 New Yorkers could lose their jobs if the Soda Tax is passed.

“The Soda Tax will threaten local jobs and force families to stretch their budgets even further then they are now.  The Soda Tax is no way to put some pop back into the North Country’s economy,” said Vaugh.

Vaugh’s first-in-the-state local resolution, calls on state leaders and local legislators Assemblywoman Addie Russell and Senator Darrel Aubertine to stop the Soda Tax from becoming law.

“This resolution is no symbolic gesture.  My challenge to Assemblywoman Russell and Senator Aubertine is put North Country families and jobs first, not greedy New York City special interests,” said Vaugh, who noted that Russell and Aubertine voted for the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill last year. “There’s still time for them to do the right thing for the North Country and stop the Soda Tax from becoming law.”