Coffee Debate Perks Up

Seattle’s heated over a proposition to tax cups of espresso

By Dana Calvo
LOS ANGELES TIMES. The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Co. newspaper.

November 29, 2002

Seattle - The idea came at the end of a long, frustrating, brown-bag session at a public-policy think tank here.

The challenge was to save the city's child-care programs. Staring into his empty coffee cup, the meeting coordinator's mind landed on an unlikely solution: Put a tax - just a "benign" dime a shot - on espresso.

That idea led to a petition signed by more than 20,000 Seattle residents, and next year voters will decide whether the tax becomes law, one that taps right into Seattle's legendary addiction to coffee.

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