Philadelphia became the first major city in the country to pass a tax on soda, and New York is trying to make it illegal to even talk about renting your apartment on Airbnb.
Those two East Coast locales are the focal point for this week's edition of the Watchdog Podcast. First, host Eric Boehm and Watchdog's top First Amendment reporter, Matt Kittle, sit down to discuss the new rules for room-sharing in New York.
A bill approved by the state Senate this week would make it illegal to list your home or apartment on websites like Airbnb, but that seems like a pretty clear violation of homeowners' right to free speech.
Then, Evan Grossman of the Pennsylvania Watchdog sits down with Boehm to talk about the soda tax in Philadelphia.
The new 1.5 cents-per-ounce tax is supposed to help pay for a massive expansion of pre-K programs in the city, but most of the money is actually going to be spent on other things. And it will be easy to avoid paying the tax, Grossman reports, because all you have to do is head out to the suburbs before grabbing that can of Coca-Cola.
All that, plus our Nanny State of the Week and our Watchdog Picks of the Litter, on this edition of the Watchdog Podcast.
