CHICAGO (WBBM) - A couple of hundred dentists are expected to converge on the State Capitol today to urge lawmakers to put a tax on soft drinks sold in Illinois.
The Illinois State Dental Society is proposing a five-percent pop tax, with money generated by it going to state dental programs for the poor.
The group’s Greg Johnson says many Illinoisans go without dental care because there aren’t enough dentists willing to be part of state programs. Johnson says reimbursements don’t even cover dentists' own costs. He says a pop tax is a natural to make up that difference.
"This is one that we think, because of the sugar in soft drinks and the acid and effects on teeth, that it would be a nice tie in because it is related," Johnson says.
Chicago already has a three-percent pop tax and, under the proposal, it would increase by two percentage points.
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