By Howard Koplowitz
An Ozone Park supermarket owner joined a coalition against Gov. David Paterson’s penny-an-ounce soda tax proposal to speak out against the plan and helped passers-by fill out petitions to tell the governor not to go through with the idea.
Nelson Eusebio, owner of the Compare Foods supermarket at 96-09 Liberty Ave. in Ozone Park, said soda sales represent 20 percent of his business.
“It’s an unfair tax. It’s unfair to the average New Yorker that’s economically challenged that has to spend more money to enjoy a soft drink,” Eusebia said Friday outside his supermarket, which held its grand opening last month.
Eusebio, also executive director of the National Supermarket Association, which represents 400 supermarkets in the tri-state area, said he was worried that if customers stopped buying soda because of the tax, thousands of jobs would vanish in the state.
“I’m concerned about my customer base, which has to spend more money” on soda, he said. “We feel this is a money grab by the state to balance their budget.”
The state is facing a $9 billion deficit. Paterson announced his soda tax plan to address the shortfall while also saying the extra charge would help curb obesity rates.
“If they’re concerned about obesity, they should educate the public about a healthy diet. They should build playgrounds,” Eusebio said. “If taxation made us healthy, New Yorkers would be the healthiest people in the country because we’re the most overtaxed people in the country.”
A representative from New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes, a coalition of 190 groups, unions and businesses opposed to the tax, said 17,000 people across the state have signed the petition telling Paterson to ditch the soda tax proposal.
Delta Robinson, an Ozone Park resident who left Compare Foods carrying a plastic bag with four bottles of Sprite, said the tax would not affect her soda purchases if it went into effect.
“For me, thank God I can afford it,” she said, noting she buys soda because her 16-year-old son enjoys it. “But what about the people that can’t afford it?”
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
