From the beer blogs: Proposed federal beer tax
Is it a sin or merely a sin tax? I'm talking about the Senate's proposed excise tax on alcoholic beverages. If you take a spin through some of our favorite beer blogs, it's no surprise which interpretation you'll find.
Here's the background. In a recent closed-door meeting of the Senate Finance Committe, Senators Max Baucus (D - Montana) and Chuck Grassley (R - Iowa) pitched a tax on alcoholic beverages and soft drinks as a way to help fund the growing cost of providing health care coverage for the uninsured, a cost estimated at $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
What would that mean for beer, wine and liquor drinkers? The excise tax on a case of beer would rise 145 percent, to nearly $3 per case. It's worse for a case of wine, which would go up 233 percent, or about $7 per case. And hard liquor taxes would jump 20 percent.
Here's a sampling of what some of our favorite bloggers have to say...
Alexander Mitchell at Beer in Baltimore provides a link to an argument against the taxes, including a link to a map showing state excise tax rates on beer.
Tom Cizauskas on Yours for Good Fermentables in his Clamps and Gaskets post for week 22 has links to a couple of items about current state excise taxes.
Hugh Sisson, on his Clipper City Beer Blog, posts a protest letter that you can copy and send to your state legislator to voice your opposition to the tax.
In the interest of balance, if you want to find out about the history of alcohol taxes and the reasons behind them, the Center for Science in the Public Interest offers a page of resources about alcohol policy and a white-paper report about state beer taxes.
If you're concerned about what the impact of the tax could mean to your pocketbook or to your neighborhood pub or craft brewer, take a few moments to study the issue.
Comments
This is a topic I've been following pretty closely and have already blogged about myself in depth a few times. I am about to blog about it again considering the graduated fine proposal that Nate Silver offers on his blog.
In the meantime, though, I thought I would chime in to offer this piece of advice as a chronic letter writer.
Copying and pasting letters to Congressmen and Senators doesn't work. Their staff treats them as one letter. That's not to say they totally discount your opinion. But for all the effort of cutting, pasting, and signing it--you might as well have written: "Beer Tax: don't do it. Sincerely Jim." It saves time and will garner equivalent attention.
Rather the Senators need to know your personal story. How will an extra $3 a case effect you? How much less beer will you buy? How will it effect beer business in your area? How many people will be put out of work? Why does the beer tax make you mad? We know why it makes Papazian mad, but what fundamental violations are you feeling?
Hand-written is better, if you have legible handwriting (I don't).
Better still is to sit down with as many friends as you can muster and have each one of them write a letter of disgust--maybe while drinking a few (don't spill on the letters). Have a fact sheet nearby for talking points. Offer to mail the letters for your friends when you recover from your hangover.
(Great advice. Although when I've sent form letters to our legislators in the past, they have responded, albeit months later and with what seems like their own form letters. Oh, well. By the way, feel free to send along links to your blog and Nate Silver's so we can share them with other readers. Thanks - Steve)
Posted by: Jim | June 9, 2009 9:46 AM
Add that to the proposed expansion of sales tax to include beer in Massachusetts and this could be the end for some small local New England breweries.
(Several other states - California, Michigan, etc. - also in the cross-hairs for local excise taxes. - Steve)
Posted by: 21stCenturyCavePainter | June 9, 2009 1:08 PM
I've posted about this on my own (Beer and More) blog. I also posted the letter I sent to our Senators.
I'm afraid, however, that increasing taxes is going to become far more common as President Obama's $1.5 TRILLION health care plan. They've got to pay for it SOMEHOW. And not doing it is not a viable option, according to most left-leaning politicians.
Posted by: Ale Evangelist | June 9, 2009 1:30 PM
If you really want to influence your congressman, you should show up at his/her town halls or office hours and ask tough questions. Or make an appointment to meet in his/her district office. Letters are only marginally useful and there isn't much difference between form letters and handwritten letters.
While it never hurts to keep up the grassroots pressure, things are looking good on this issue. The proposed tax on beer wouldn't raise much revenue (at least not when you're talking about $1.5 to $2 trillion for health care reform) but would create a lot of political headaches. It's probably not going to happen, thankfully.
Posted by: BA | June 9, 2009 8:55 PM