Voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico have defeated a measure that would have levied a 2-cents-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. The revenues raised by the tax would have gone toward making pre-kindergarten education available to approximately 1,000 children and funded nearly 200 jobs in early education.
Public health experts have advocated such taxes as a way to reduce consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrition drinks which have been shown to contribute to childhood obesity.