The Best Thing That Happened This Week: Free Pre-K Got Off the Ground

Of course, the soda tax did, too …

iStockphoto.com

iStockphoto.com

How you felt about the past week might depend on how many three- and four-year-olds live under your roof at the moment. Because on Wednesday, exactly one year after his swearing-inMayor Kenney saw his free universal pre-K program come to life. While the city’s little ones were getting their first real tastes of terror, abandonment and bullying, residents were getting their first tastes of the soda tax that made the pre-K program possible, seeing as it kicked into gear January 1st. A number of stores thoughtfully noted the cost of the tax on receipts even though it’s supposed to be paid by distributors, not consumers. Meanwhile, our own Victor Fiorillo unleashed torrents of online invective (“Why not a sin tax on burgers? Cheese? Mayonnaise?”) when he suggested the citizenry sip H2O instead of Mountain Dew. Who knew some people take flavored fizzy water so seriously? Of course, this office would implode if the city ever tried to tax coffee beans.

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