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Seattle soda-tax collections top $16M in 9 months

In less than a year, Seattle has collected a few million more from the so-called soda tax than it thought it would.

The video above is from October, when the city council questioned how it would spend the revenue from the soda tax. 

Seattle has collected nearly $17 million in the first nine months of its tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, exceeding what the city initially expected the tax would raise in its first year.

The Seattle Times reports before the so-called soda tax took effect Jan. 1, officials estimated it would raise about $15 million in 2018.

Though researchers have yet to complete analyses of consumption patterns, tax collections have increased throughout 2018.

Finance and Administration Services department spokeswoman Julie Moore says after collecting $4.8 million in first-quarter payments and $5.9 million in second-quarter payments, Seattle collected $6.2 million in third-quarter payments and a total of $16.9 million.

The Seattle measure puts a 1.75 cent-tax per fluid ounce on the distribution of sweetened beverages such as Pepsi, sports drinks, and other drinks with exceptions for diet sodas and milk-based drinks such as lattes.

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