You guys should stop complaining cuz one the health care we have now isnt as good as it was supposed to be. also the law has just been signed give it a try u guys are too hard on democrats they went to college and we voted for most of these people.so if u want to say u have the right to choose tell that to ur congress men or state official. as for obama people are just tryin to make it look like america made a mistake he has done things to help us and we had a full 8 years of a terrible president and i will be so as happy as ever when a obama fixes bush's mistakes. You can find full medical coverage at the lowest price from http://bit.ly/9fDY7U obama has to put up with the wo0rld judging his every move and trying to fix the mess we are in we are lucky anyone wants to be our president. STOP COMPLAINING AND GIVE HIM A BREAK. i wanna see one of yall do what he sas done. some people are just so ignorant.

bottle tax, alcohol tax, parking tax. I don't mind paying taxes, I really don't, but can we start seeing something in return. A clean city would be nice, section 8 housing not on the waterfron in Annapolis. Parking garages to help pay for the taxes or just parking in general in the city.

All these politicians think they are "entitled" to the citizens money just because the tax on alcohol hasnt been raised lately? I guess this is the result of all the unfunded mandates in Obamacare. You can be rest assured this isnt the only tax or fee that will be raised, take it to the bank. (No pun intended) What is wrong with this picture? When are the honest, hard working, tax paying citizens in this state going to stand up and say enough?...

Just want to add that this is NOT the final list. The deadline for candidates to sign onto the resolution in August 27th.

Thanks for sharing this list. I had no idea that this many candidates support a dime a drink alcohol tax. I love it. I think it's a great way to raise the money our state is going to need for health care--don't forget that the money raised by this dime-a-drink would be matched by the federal government in 2014! I'm a registered voter who would gladly pay an extra dime per drink to help our state improve health care access and get federal $ for health care. Thanks for taking a stand candidates!!

Well thank God we have all the tax & spenders on record now. Now we know who to VOTE OUT! Thank you Baltimore Sun. And I'll bet the farm, that if it passes, the money WON'T just be used just for healthcare and alcohol related programs. This is the same old scam politicians pull time and time again on the lemming voters in this state. It'll end up being spent on other new programs and funneled to more wasteful government spending just like with the cigarette industry judgment, which was also supposed to be used for smoking related programs and free cancer treatments and healthcare. Anybody want to bet? How many people in this state are getting free cancer treatments and healthcare from the cigarette judgment? I rest my case.

I have a suggestion for to improve health care access. Get a job...Simple but i guess that's to ignorant for some of you people to understand. I for one am sick of the sob stories. Everyone has one get over it!

A tax on alcohol is pretty regressive -- i.e. a "soak the poor tax" -- because a guy who drinks and is lower income is going to pay a higher percentage of his income in alcohol taxes than a rich guy who drinks the same thing and the same amount . I don't like it. If taxes need to be raised, it makes sense to tax the folks who can most afford it and derive the most benefit from the system, i.e. the rich, with maybe something like a hike in the top bracket income tax or a tax on second homes, that sort of thing.

As a Democrat, I always thought we were supposed to be the party of the poor and the middle class, but I see way too many "D"s on that list. I also thought we weren't supposed to be for legislating morality, but this is essentially a "sin tax" that targets a specific legal behavior (drinking) that some politicians don't like. Honestly, this is an issue that the Republicans could really make some inroads with by highlighting, but unfortunately a regressive sin tax is right up their alley, too.

By the way, since this is a health blog, it's worth pointing out that alcohol, while it does hurt your liver and have some negative health impacts, also has some positive health impacts as well, studies are showing. If you drink in *moderation*, i.e. one or two a day, you can reduce your risk of things like heart attack and stroke, etc.. I wouldn't go so far as to say drinking is good for you, but it may be neutral for some folks who are moderate about their consumption.

Seems like a pretty small and reasonable tax to fund needed expansions of health care and access. I'm pleased to see so many candidates on board, and disappointed to see that the majority of my district incumbents have not endorsed this yet. I hope they will.

jmy- how does getting a job improve health care access?

The MAJOR problem is that when the tax funds dry up where then does the money come from to replace it?

These elected officials NEVER spend the money where they PROPOSE to spend it. They all LIE!
The list above looks like a Who's Who of the Progressive Fascist movement.

and of COURSE the leech Vinnie DeMarco is involved! What a pos that man is for ALWAYS wanting to take what is not his to give to who HE feels is more deserving!

Kari - Quit your job and find out how it helped to improve your health care access.

The alcohol tax is only favored by delegates too afraid to raise the income tax to cover the budget gap. This has nothing to do with health care whatsoever. That is a ruse to increase a regressive tax that disproportionately affects the poor.

John: a consumption tax on something that is not necessary is not regressive. Tax on clothing, food, shelter = regressive. Tax on cigarettes, booze, luxury cars, candy, bottled sodas, etc. is not regressive.

Kari - I guess a job doesnt help in getting health insurance. I'm going to quit working and become one of the poor adults this tax will help fund in the future. Thanks for you dime.

@don't drink: I was always taught that any tax that disproportionately burdens the poor relative to the rich is considered regressive. Granted, a regressive tax on a necessary item like food is worse than a regressive tax on something like alcohol, but they are both regressive if the poor wind up paying a higher percentage of their income than the rich when all is said and done.

I've never really liked consumption or sales taxes in general. There doesn't seem to a way to handle them that isn't regressive in some way, except for when they are imposed on items the poor and middle class just can't afford in general (i.e. a luxury yacht, a Lexus, a second home, etc..).

It seems odd to me that politicians seem to think that it is less politically dangerous to impose a tax that hits the poor and the middle class hard than raising the income tax a little on the rich or whatever. I guess that's because the rich folks are the ones who write the big campaign contribution checks.

jmy - I bet in real life you're pretty smart, even though it doesn't show here, so I'm sure you know that the majority of Marylanders that don't have health care coverage do have jobs.

I'm still not convinced that telling people to get a job will solve our health care problems if workplaces don't provide coverage and individuals earn too much to qualifiy for Medicaid.

When new taxes are implemented, the real question is whether the funds are directed at problems associated with what is being taxed. Too often, such taxes simply contribute to the money that the government has to use for their overall budget. Unfortunately, we, the public, don't typically stay engaged long enough to ensure that this is not the case.

123 Democrats vs 7 Republicans

Report that 94.6% of the votes in favor of raising taxes were from Democrats.

Isn't it about time MD increased taxes on alcohol? No tax increase on wine or beer since 1972; No tax increase on spirits since 1965!! Almost every other tax or fee has been raised during the last 30 yeaars; why not a increased tax on alcohol?? It is a matter of choice; I buy wine, beer and spirits; this is not a tax imposed on everyone! Could cut down on drunk drivers, alcoholism, etc. and help the MD budget problems. Big lobbies will pour money into opposing this and scare politicians into doing it the Lobbiests way!

In Maryland they cannot even wait until November 3rd to begin to raise taxes. The worst economic downturn in our lifetime and the answer in Maryland is to raise taxes. As Nancy Pelosi moves from the Speakers' office to the minority leaders's office the Maryland response is to raise taxes. And is it any wonder that Bob Erhlich is one prison riot or lost child away from retaking the Governor's Mansion?

More tax and spend from lowlife Liberal Dems. Vote them out. Next they will want to tax the taxes we pay. Why don't they just take my whole paycheck.

You all miss the point. If a new tax on liquor would make a significant difference most would gladly pay it. The Gov't keeps adding taxes and when you add them all up, be it; sales, gasoline, tabbacco, telephone surcharges, road tax, tolls, captial gains, inheritance, flush tax, with too many to list, it all adds up to taxpayers contributing more than 85% of their earnings to the Gov't via taxes.

At the end of the day nothing changes. There's no money for education, which was supposed to be covered by the lottery and now slots. There's no money for unemployment, yet they keep raising unemployment insurance for employers and so for.

If we don't start holding these politicians accountable for the money already being contributed via the tax system, they will keep coming back for more and when was the last time they made some sacrifice.

Years ago the Federal Government passed the Grahamm Rudman act which mandated a balanced federal budget and failure to do so is a criminal offense with jailtime, yet we have a $13 Trillion deficit.

The state budget is in the red also, so you want to tell me these guy have figured out how to get things right by adding ten cents to liquor. I think your all high on something.