MONTPELIER, Vt. -
A possible penny per-ounce tax on sugar sweetened beverages didn't get the six votes it needed to pass through the House Committee on Healthcare.
It wasn't the news bill sponsor Dave Sharpe had hoped for.
"I see obesity growing in our state and in our nation and I know that it's a growing health issue and a growing cost issue," State Rep. Sharpe said.
Sharpe isn't in the Healthcare Committee but says he's worked hard to try and pass the tax to pay for healthcare costs caused by obesity.
"I think taxing the beverage as a way to pay for the detrimental effects of that beverage is a fair trade," Sharpe said.
But two state representatives in the Healthcare Committee, progressive Chris Pearson of Burlington and independent Paul Poirier, voted on the side of republicans in opposition of the bill. The two non-major party representatives though voted against it because they believed the healthcare subsidies provided to low income Vermonters proposed in the bill didn't go far enough.
But in an 11 person committee though there should still be a majority. That is until state rep. George Till of Jericho, a doctor and supporter of the bill, had to leave because he was called to a medical emergency.
That lead to the five-five draw.
But Sharpe says the tax on sugar sweetened beverages isn't dead just yet despite many lawmakers claims that it is.
"I don't think it will end here by any means. Even if it's not enacted this year I don't think the problem will go away and I don't think a possibility of a tax sugar sweetened beverages will go away," Sharpe said.
