DEPENDING on whom you talk with, Mayor Nutter’s soda-tax proposal is:

a) A public-health initiative.

b) A political cash grab.

c) Nutter’s bid for national PR.

d) Dead.

e) Alive.

And the truth? Somewhere in the middle, as City Council gathers today to give final approval to a city budget that includes a temporary 9.9 percent property-tax increase – and may revisit the soda-tax issue, which stalled last week.

During last week’s session, Nutter could not wrangle the nine votes needed to move the soda-tax bill out of committee. With today looking as if it might be his last chance, the debate has grown fast and furious.

Nutter originally included a 2-cents-per-ounce soda tax – which would be levied as part of a retailer’s business tax – in his budget plan, billing it as a way to raise revenue and improve public health. But the negotiations in recent weeks have centered on a tax of 1/2 cent or 3/4 cent per ounce. It wasn’t clear last night if either had enough votes.
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