Thanks to the gutless city council, all of the advertising money spent by the beverage industry has paid off by defeating the bottle tax. Instead of a tax that would at least partially (if not mostly) raise money from people coming into the city and on goods that are either not good for your health (sugar drinks) or for the environment (plastic bottles), now we have a plan with more taxes that affect only residents. We have an increase in the income tax rate, increase on telephone line taxes, and a reduction to early property tax payment discounts. Way to go City Council. I wonder how long it will take the beverage industry to recoup the money it has spent on advertising? It would also be interesting to see which City Council members have beverage industry money in their re-election coffers.

Howard Calk, Baltimore