QFC is knowingly charging the sweetened beverage tax on unsweetened beverage(s) – check your receipts.

I recently noticed a $0.61 “sales tax” on my receipt from QFC, even though nothing I purchased should have been taxed. When I contacted Kroger’s customer service to inquire, I learned they had been incorrectly charging the sweetened beverage tax for an unsweetened cold brew coffee I’ve been buying regularly for over a year. Here’s their response:

“According to our team, in Washington, beverages that are unsweetened should not be taxed. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and assure you that we are working to evaluate and update the sub-commodity values to prevent this from happening again.” They credited me $1.

However, two weeks later, I bought the same product and was charged the tax again. It’s clear the issue hasn’t been fixed, and they’re still incorrectly taxing this product—and possibly others. From what I understand, this tax isn’t being passed down by the distributor, yet Kroger continues to pass it on to consumers.

Given Kroger’s ongoing lawsuits over alleged price gouging and pocketing consumer money, this feels like a potential red flag. Their lack of urgency to resolve the issue or refund other affected customers is a bit concerning. Does anyone else find this troubling or think it’s worth further investigation?