We all have faults and vices. Mine happen to be eating too much Southern food and enjoying too many sodas. But if I lived in Philadelphia, I think I’d have to curb my appetite for caffeine.

As of the first of this year, the city enacted a “soda tax” that has increased the price of sugar caffeinated drinks by 1.5 cents per ounce. That may not seem like a lot, but if you were to buy a gallon of sweet tea that cost $1.77 last year, you’ll bay $3.69 for that same gallon of sweet tea. There is no way I would be able to go through life without drinking sweet tea, but could not find myself to pay more than double for the sugary sweetness.

The reason for this increase in tax is to crack down on the obesity rate with the extra funds to be used for expanding educational and recreational services – great causes, but the sticker shock has freaked out several citizens in Philly. I would be among them. In fact, I would be leading the charge to dump the soda into the harbor in protest. Well, maybe not. But I would still be feeling pained for such an astronomical increase in price and it makes me think back to what prompted our Forefathers to rebel against the British and dump all that tea into Boston Harbor all those years ago.

Of course, Americans today wouldn’t stage such a protest and either pay the price increase or decide to purchase soft drinks outside the city limits of Philly or make the life changes the tax is designed to do.

I, for one, will continue one of my few vices and drink regular Coke and won’t be making a trip to Philadelphia any time soon.

Rob Sigler is managing editor of The Oxford EAGLE. Contact him at rob.sigler@oxfordeagle.com.