Times are tough here in Baltimore City. Hard-working families are juggling priorities, making difficult decisions to balance the family budget. The end result is seen every day as moms and dads count pennies to buy everyday items and now-and-again treats. Those hard-working families simply don't have room in their kitchen table budgets for new taxes.

A proposal from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake now being considered in the City Council would tax many beverage containers — a tax that is clearly regressive and discriminatory. It will have the largest impact on center-city, less affluent families who cannot easily travel to the surrounding counties to do their grocery shopping. Without question, these families will be the ones most affected by this tax — as they already have been by the city's double-digit unemployment.

Must history always repeat itself? Not 10 years ago, Baltimore City passed a similar tax but decided to repeal it when it failed to raise the necessary revenues for the city. As is the case now, concerned businesses owners and residents alike voiced their opposition to the tax. But they were not heard, and the city eventually repealed the beverage tax because it simply didn't work.

With Mayor Rawlings-Blake's proposal, most beverages that are bottled or canned would be hit with this tax, including sodas, juice drinks, teas, sports drinks and other beverages, many of which are manufactured right here in Baltimore City. The supermarkets remaining in Baltimore have made significant investments in their businesses, providing jobs and services to their surrounding communities — communities to which they are clearly committed. They have placed all their "bets" on Baltimore City for their survival; why doesn't Baltimore City value them? We have stuck it out through good times and bad, but this tax simply may cost too much for our businesses this time around.

If you think pennies aren't important, consider this: If you drive and are buying gasoline and you see gas being sold for a penny or two less at a station that is four blocks away, rather than the station around the corner, don't you always go to the cheaper station, although it is four blocks away? Likewise, for city residents, it only makes sense to shop where you will get good deals — and this tax pushes them out of the city and into the surrounding counties. That will have an impact on much more than Baltimore City beverage sales; it will impact Baltimore City jobs, ultimately resulting in lower revenues for Baltimore businesses and, in the long run, lower tax revenues to government.

We are all struggling through a tough economy with high unemployment. This beverage tax is just another load we simply cannot bear. Baltimore City's budget shortfall is a problem that should not to be taken lightly. But there are better ways to remedy the situation than to place this financial burden on the backs of hard-working Baltimore families. Perhaps Mayor Rawlings-Blake and the City Council can take a lesson from the customers I see in my store every day — customers who are exhibiting spending discipline by tightening their belts, buying fewer items less frequently and clipping more coupons more often. What's working for Baltimore City residents and businesses may just work for our elected officials as well.

Elizabeth Vary is owner of Bel-Garden Bi-Rite Supermarket in northeast Baltimore. Her e-mail is svary30@yahoo.com.