Last week, we recognized our country's brew masters during national Craft Brewers Week and feel this is a good opportunity to write about the proposal to increase Wisconsin's beer tax.
Recently, State Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, made headlines calling for an increase in the beer tax to fund new Assistant District Attorney positions (which the ADA's association does not support), as well as programs aimed at treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse and reducing drunk driving and underage drinking.
The goals are laudable - we, too, support reducing drunk driving, underage drinking and access to alcohol, as well as improving treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse. We simply disagree that raising Wisconsin's beer tax is the way to achieve those goals.
The beer industry has a long history in Wisconsin and always has been very important to Wisconsin's economy in terms of jobs, wages and tax revenue. It should be no surprise that Missouri (home to Anheuser-Busch) and Colorado (Coors) are two states with similar brewing legacies and similarly low beer taxes, or that California's wine tax is among the lowest in the nation. The product taxes are low in those states (and ours) because the industries pump economic benefit into their states in many other ways.
Today, while names like Schlitz, Blatz, Stroh and Heilman no longer dominate, Wisconsin's rich brewing tradition flourishes now with names like Capital, Central Waters, Lake Louie, Sprecher, New Glarus and many more. In fact, we are among the nation's leaders in the variety and quality of craft beer made here, and in the number of craft brewers that call Wisconsin home.
Like the beer distributors they rely on to deliver their products, Wisconsin's craft brewers are a locally-owned and key industry in their communities. Distributors and brewers employ thousands of people statewide with good-paying jobs. Together we are active community citizens, supporting everything from the local Little League to "Safe Ride Home" and programs designed to teach bartenders and store clerks how to check IDs and monitor intoxication.
By itself, raising Wisconsin's beer tax might not be catastrophic for Wisconsin's craft beer industry, but combined with proposed federal increases, a poor economy, slowing sales and rising commodity and energy costs, even a modest increase will hurt and could be fatal.
On average, between federal and state beer taxes, sales taxes, payroll and business taxes and other taxes and fees, about 40 percent of the retail price of beer is tax of one form or another - it already is highly taxed in spite of Wisconsin's relatively low beer tax. And on average, it is those in the middle and lower economic classes who purchase this affordable luxury - it is a regressive tax that disproportionately hurts those who can afford taxes the least.
In an economy as challenging as this, and in a state where the beer industry provides as many jobs and as much economic benefit as it does, raising the beer tax runs a great risk of destroying jobs and chasing new job creators out of business and out of Wisconsin.
Recently, State Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, made headlines calling for an increase in the beer tax to fund new Assistant District Attorney positions (which the ADA's association does not support), as well as programs aimed at treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse and reducing drunk driving and underage drinking.
The goals are laudable - we, too, support reducing drunk driving, underage drinking and access to alcohol, as well as improving treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse. We simply disagree that raising Wisconsin's beer tax is the way to achieve those goals.
The beer industry has a long history in Wisconsin and always has been very important to Wisconsin's economy in terms of jobs, wages and tax revenue. It should be no surprise that Missouri (home to Anheuser-Busch) and Colorado (Coors) are two states with similar brewing legacies and similarly low beer taxes, or that California's wine tax is among the lowest in the nation. The product taxes are low in those states (and ours) because the industries pump economic benefit into their states in many other ways.
Today, while names like Schlitz, Blatz, Stroh and Heilman no longer dominate, Wisconsin's rich brewing tradition flourishes now with names like Capital, Central Waters, Lake Louie, Sprecher, New Glarus and many more. In fact, we are among the nation's leaders in the variety and quality of craft beer made here, and in the number of craft brewers that call Wisconsin home.
Like the beer distributors they rely on to deliver their products, Wisconsin's craft brewers are a locally-owned and key industry in their communities. Distributors and brewers employ thousands of people statewide with good-paying jobs. Together we are active community citizens, supporting everything from the local Little League to "Safe Ride Home" and programs designed to teach bartenders and store clerks how to check IDs and monitor intoxication.
By itself, raising Wisconsin's beer tax might not be catastrophic for Wisconsin's craft beer industry, but combined with proposed federal increases, a poor economy, slowing sales and rising commodity and energy costs, even a modest increase will hurt and could be fatal.
On average, between federal and state beer taxes, sales taxes, payroll and business taxes and other taxes and fees, about 40 percent of the retail price of beer is tax of one form or another - it already is highly taxed in spite of Wisconsin's relatively low beer tax. And on average, it is those in the middle and lower economic classes who purchase this affordable luxury - it is a regressive tax that disproportionately hurts those who can afford taxes the least.
In an economy as challenging as this, and in a state where the beer industry provides as many jobs and as much economic benefit as it does, raising the beer tax runs a great risk of destroying jobs and chasing new job creators out of business and out of Wisconsin.
