<p>Detroit’s Mayor Kilpatrick Wants City to Tax Fast Food
Date: Sunday, May 08, 2005
By: Sarah Karush, Associated Press </p>
<p>Would you like fries with that? Either way, the Detroit city treasury would like a bite. Faced with a $300 million budget hole, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is hoping people in this already heavily taxed city won’t mind forking over a few extra cents for their Big Macs and Whoppers.</p>
<p>Kilpatrick wants to ask Detroit voters to approve a two percent fast-food tax – on top of the six percent state sales tax on restaurant meals…</p>
<p>Other cities and states have special taxes on prepared food, and some have tried “snack taxes.” In New York, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has proposed a one percent tax on junk food, video games and TV commercials to fund anti-obesity programs.</p>
<p>But if approved, the Detroit tax would be the country’s first to target fast-food outlets, the National Restaurant Association said…Opponents have been quick to call it a “fat tax” in this city dubbed the nation’s fattest in 2004 by Men’s Health magazine. Detroit fell to No. 3 for 2005…</p>