It’s the second time in as many years that a bill to impose a new excise tax on the distribution of sodas and sugary drinks has failed in the D.C. Council.

A new bill would replace the city’s current 8% sales tax on sugary drinks with an excise tax — a move lawmakers say will dissuade customers from purchasing the beverages to begin with.

The American Beverage Association has waged aggressive and well-funded fights against proposed soda taxes in other jurisdictions, and now is gearing up to fight a bill in the D.C. Council.

Councilmembers say revenue from a new excise tax on sugary drinks could amount to $21 million annually, which would go toward increasing access to healthy food.

Starting on Oct. 1, sodas and other sugary drinks will be charged a higher sales tax in D.C., and the revenue will help pay for health and nutrition programs for low-income residents and families.

“It’s entirely appropriate and consistent with what we’ve done in the past to tax sugary drinks in order to pay for improved nutrition for children and residents,” says Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ban the sale of large sodas and sugary drinks. Could that ever come to pass in D.C.?

There might not be a soda tax, but your precious soda is more expensive.

Graph from USDA report on soda taxes. Earlier this year, Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) proposed a one-cent per ounce tax on soda and other sugary beverages to help fund her Healthy Schools Initiative, which seeks to improve the nutrition of D.C. school kids by offering them fresher, healthier foods. Under intense lobbying from the soda industry, the tax never made it into the District’s 2011 budget — though as a compromise of…

Photo by soleil1016 As the D.C. budget season heads toward its frenzied conclusion this month, here’s a bit of free advice to all those trade associations and advocacy campaigns currently swirling around the John A. Wilson Building: When you start compiling lists of organizations that have signed up to be a part of your coalition, make sure they actually know about and have agreed to support your cause. Case in point, the well-funded group…