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CompareTaxPolicies:AQuickStartGuideWelcometoHealthyFoodAmerica’snew“CompareTaxPolicies”feature.Thisinteractivedatabaseallowsforeasy,detailedexaminationofprecedentandvariationinsugarydrinktaxordinancelanguagebyposingpolicyquestionsandlinkinganswerstorelevantlegaltext.ThedatabaseincludesmunicipalordinancesimplementedorpursuedintheUSsince2014.It’sintendedforusebymembersofthelegal,publichealth,governmental,andadvocatecommunities.

GettingOrientedinMapViewThereareseveralwaystoviewandcomparetextacrossordinances.We’llgettothoseoptions.Firstlet’sexploretheopeningscreen,whichappearsinMapview.Ontheleft,there’salistofquestionspertinenttotaxordinancelanguage.Ontheright,there’samapthatshowsmunicipalitieswhereataxwasimplementedorattemptedsince2014.Thefirstquestioninthelist,“Hasasugarydrinktaxbeenenacted?”ishighlightedingreen,andthemaphascoloredthelocationpointsaccordingtotheanswertothatquestion(8sitesinbluefor“Yes,”1siteinyellowfor“No”).Belowthemap,you’llseeasimpletablethatdisplayslocationnamesandtheircorrespondingresponsestothehighlightedquestion.

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Inthetable,you’llseetwosymbols:asectionsign§,andacautionsign.Clickonthegreensectionsign§,andyou’llseethetextthatcorrespondstothelanguageinthatlocation’sordinancethatanswersthequestion.

Noticethesmalldoublesectionsigninblue§§totherightofthetextunder“ExcerptsfromtheLaw.”Clickthat,andyou’llseethetextthatanswersthehighlightedquestionincontextofthefullordinance.Youcanscrollupanddownthefullordinancetoseewhatprecedesandfollowsthemarkedtext.

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Clickonthecautionsigntoreadanaccompanyingnotethatadviseshowtointerprettheanswerpresented.Forinstance,inthetaxenactmentquestion,thecautionnoteassociatedwithCookCounty(atthebottomofthelist)says,“TheSweetenedBeverageTaxwaspassedon11/10/2016butwasrepealedon10/12/2017.”

Clickonanyquestioninthelist(soithighlightsingreen)toseeresponsesforthatparticularquestion.

ProfileViewAbovethemap,therearetwotabs:ProfilesandMap.Mapviewishelpfulforgettingavisualoverviewofvariationbetweensites,butProfileviewletsyoucompareordinancetextingreaterdetail.IfyouclickProfiles,aprofilecardforeachlocationappearsthatrespondstothequestionhighlightedingreen.Thesection§andcautionsymbolsworkthesamewayasinthemapviewtable.

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Thedefaultviewwillshowprofilecardsforalllocations.Ifyouwanttocompareasmallernumberofsites,orviewjustonesite,youcanselectthembyclickinginthewhitefieldinthebluebox.Adropdownmenuwillappear.Youcanselectmultiplesites,butmustselectthemfromthemenuoneatatime.

Clickontheoptionsatthetopoftheblueboxtosortprofilecardresponsesamongselectedlocationsalphabetically,chronologically,orbylikeanswers.ClickonCitationsintheupperrightcorneroftheblueboxtochangetheprofilecardstoanexpandedviewthatincludesnotjusttheanswertothehighlightedquestion,butaddsanycautiontextandthecorrespondingordinancetext.Thisisoneofthemostusefulwaystoviewthetaxdatabase.

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Ifyouwish,youcanhighlightthetextexcerptswithyourcursor,thencopyandpastethemintoanotherdocument.Thereiscurrentlynotawaytoexporttheseexcerptsintoatableautomatically;thatmaybeafuturefeature.Thereareadditionalviewingoptionsthatbecomevisibleonlywhenyouhoveryourcursoroveraparticularprofilecard.Theyappearintheupperrightcorner.

Clickthesectionsymbol§§toviewthefullordinancetextforthatlocation.(Notethespecifictextansweringthegreenhighlightedquestionwillnotbehighlightedinthefullordinancetextinthisview.)Clickthetriplehorizontallinetoviewresponses(and,ifincitationview,correspondingtext)toeveryquestioninthelistforthatsite.Clickonthearrowstowidentheprofilebox.Thisfunctionisthemostusefulwhenviewingthefullordinancetext.YoucanalsoarriveatProfileviewbyclickingonajurisdictionpointonthemap.ThentheProfilestabwillloadautomaticallytoexplorejustthatjurisdiction.YoumaythenaddmorejurisdictionsforcomparisonbyenteringthenameofanotherjurisdictioninthetextboxfoundabovetheProfilecard,orusingthedropdownmenu.

UsingExploreandFilterTherearetwomajorwaystoexplorethequestionsinthelistontheleft:exploreandfilter.TheinstructionstothispointhavebeenwrittenasifusingExploreview.Filterviewusesmuchofthesamefunctionality.Youcanchoosebetweenthembyclickingtheappropriateboxabovethelist.

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Here’saquickoverviewofthedifferences.TheExplorefunctionallowsaquickglancebydisplayingresponsesacrossalljurisdictionsforasinglequestion.Tomakeaquery:Justclickonaquestiononthelefttomakeitactive,theMapandProfileCardswillloadallrelevantdata.Themapwillshowthedifferencesinanswersandprovidealegendtoexplaindifferentcolorsthatmayappear.TheFilterfunctionallowsuserstobuildcomplicatedqueriesandvisualizewherethecriteriaismetonboththeMapandProfileview.Tomakeaquery:Fromthequestionsontheleft,selecttheanswerstosetcriteria.Thecriteriawilldisplayabovethequestions,allowingyoutokeeptrackofwhatyou’reselected.Themapwillshowjurisdictionshighlightedintwocolors,oneforpositiveandonefornegativeresults.SwitchtotheProfilestabtoexploretheProfileCardsforallthequestions,answers,citations,andlegaltextthatmeettheselectedcriteria.