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February 18, 2025

CT lawmaker proposes soda tax to fund school meal programs

HBJ PHOTO | DAVID KRECHEVSKY The State Capitol in Hartford.
By David Krechevsky

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would impose a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages with the intent of using the revenue to provide meals at no cost to all students.

Senate Bill 921, sponsored by Sen. Gary Winfield (D-New Haven), is among a dozen bills on the agenda for review during Tuesday’s meeting of the legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.

Winfield’s bill is not fully fleshed out and doesn’t yet say how big of a tax it would impose, or how much revenue it would raise. 

A so-called soda tax has been a hot topic nationally in recent years, but no state currently has a statewide tax on sugary drinks, according to the Tax Foundation. 

In February last year, the state General Assembly approved a bill that included $60 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to cover the cost of universal free meals for the rest of that school year, which ended in June. 

That bill had overwhelming bipartisan support, passing the House by a 144-0 vote and the Senate by a 35-0 vote.

The legislature stepped in last year after U.S. Department of Agriculture waivers that allowed public schools to serve free meals to all students expired the previous summer.

Winfield’s bill also would provide breakfasts and lunches to all students, “regardless of family income.”

More than 465,000, or one in eight, children in Connecticut struggle with hunger, and more than 112,000, or one in six, children are food insecure, according to estimates from Feeding America, a nonprofit hunger-relief organization.

Food insecurity refers to not having access to enough food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet basic needs.

The majority of the other bills on the agenda for the committee’s meeting are related to either creating or eliminating tax credits, tax deductions and tax exemptions.

In addition to reviewing a dozen bills before setting public hearings on them, the committee will also discuss two dozen concepts that could be raised as legislation. 

The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Room 2E of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

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