Beer Tax
States
- Even Oregon - Look at Higher Beer
Taxes States - Even Oregon - Look at Higher Beer Taxes Many states are
looking at raising "sin taxes" in order to cover falling
state tax receipts because of recession. The Distilled
Spirits Council of the United States reports that eight
states want to boost taxes on beer, wine or hard liquor. In
2001, Washington and North Carolina lawmakers boosted a
surcharge on alcohol sales and a liquor tax, respectively.
In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber has proposed a
"nickel-a-drink" tax on beer and wine. Jim Parker, executive
director of the Oregon Brewers Guild, points out that
brewing beer isn't a sin and questions the math on the
"nickel a drink" computation. The governor's proposal works
out to an increase of 53.7 cents a gallon, or more than six
times the current rate of 8 cents a gallon. The proposed tax
of 61.7 cents a gallon would be more than triple the
national average and the second-highest tax rate in the
country. 'Nickel a Drink' Legislation Would Fund Trauma and Emergency System State Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) reintroduced legislation to help save California’s beleaguered trauma centers and emergency rooms. The CMA-sponsored bill is expected to generate $500 million annually by assessing a 5¢-a-drink fee. The fee would be levied at the wholesale level and targets liquor vendors rather than consumers. The bill guarantees that all of the money will be used to defray the rising costs of operating emergency rooms, trauma centers, and first-response teams. "In light of our $21 billion budget deficit, California taxpayers cannot continue to bear the financial burden for an industry’s product that is responsible for substantial health care costs to the public and the state," Senator Romero said during a press conference at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles. "The alcohol industry must assume greater responsibility for a product that, by its design, debilitates an individual’s physical and mental capacities." The legislation comes on the heels of Governor Davis’s announcement that he has rescinded a one-time appropriation of $25 million to assist struggling trauma centers in California and has rolled back Medi-Cal reimbursement to 1985 levels. The governor’s $2 billion in proposed cuts from health care programs and services are going to have a devastating impact on California’s already struggling emergency rooms and trauma centers, Senator Romero said, adding that counties will be hard-pressed to find the funding necessary to help keep California’s health care delivery system afloat. Contact: Karen Nikos,
213/630-1139 or E-Mail Senate Health Committee Passes CMA-Sponsored "Nickel-a-Drink" Bill In Sacramento, the CMA-sponsored "Nickel-A-Drink" bill passed its first committee hearing this week. The Senate Health Committee voted strongly in favor of this legislation that would place a five-cent-per-drink fee on alcoholic beverages, to generate more than $700 million for trauma centers, emergency departments and on-call physicians. For additional
information on this and other bills of interest to
California physicians, see CMA’s Legislative Hot List
online at www.calphys.org
Contact: Dustin
Corcoran, 916/444-5532 or E-Mail Please contact your Representative and Senators, and send the message that you support an alcohol tax increase and would like to see this option included in the current budget debate. Follow these links to look up your legislators’ email or webform addresses: In the Senate,
click
here
Dear
Representative/Senator: As Congress
continues to weigh tax and spending priorities, I
hope you will consider a logical and popular source
of new revenue that deserves your serious
review. A recent
survey commissioned by the Center for Science in
the Public Interest (CSPI) examined the public's
views on alcohol tax increases and federal funding
priorities. It found strong bi-partisan support --
among drinkers and non-drinkers alike -- for
increasing federal excise taxes on alcoholic
beverages. Among the key findings: •
Seventy-one percent of Americans support a five
cent per drink increase in federal alcohol
taxes; •
Seventy-nine percent of Americans support an
alcohol tax increase instead of a cut in federal
programs; • Fewer
than half of Republicans think that five cents was
too large an increase, and by more than a two to
one margin, Republicans preferred alcohol-tax hikes
to cuts in programs such as Medicaid and drug
benefits for the elderly. A tax
increase of five cents per drink would yield more
than $20 billion in new revenue over the next five
years. Raising taxes on alcoholic beverages enjoys
such widespread support because most Americans
would barely notice an increase: more than
one-third of adults don’t drink and among
those who do, more than eight in ten drink at most
one per day. The alcohol tax, for the most part,
would be felt by the 20 percent of drinkers who
consume 85 percent of all the alcohol -- those
whose heavy and addicted drinking imposes the
greatest public health and safety costs to
society. An alcohol
excise tax increase is also overdue and fair. Even
with the last increase in 1991 (under the
“Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990”), in
the past fifty years the relative price of beer has
fallen by more than 25 percent relative to the
Consumer Price Index, and the effective price of
liquor has fallen almost 50 percent. Please visit
CSPI's website for further detail on their national
alcohol tax poll, at: www.cspinet.org/new/200512071.html
You can find
further background on alcohol tax issues at:
www.cspinet.org/booze/FedBeerTaxTP.htm
I would
appreciate knowing your views on this budget
option, which I believe would make for sound fiscal
and public health policy. Thank you for your
consideration. With best
regards, Name
& Address |
