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[Ripclawe]

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_021309_news_oregon_beer_tax.126942e1.html?npc

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Five Oregon state lawmakers want to impose a hefty tax on beer and have introduced a bill that brewers say would cripple them.

Four Portland legislators joined a Springfield senator to introduce Oregon House Bill 2461, which would impose a $49.61 tax on each barrel of beer produced by Oregon brewers.

The tax would raise revenue for the state at a time when budgets are running in the red. Specifically, the bill says it would fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances.

The bill's language defends the tax by arguing alcoholism and “untreated substance abuse” costs the state $4.15 billion in lost earnings as well as more than $8 million for health care and nearly $1 billion in law enforcement-related expenditures.

Oregon ranks 49th among states in its malt beverage taxation rate, which has not been raised in 32 years, according to HB 2461.


Brewers hopping mad over tax

Brewers say Oregon's low beverage taxation rate is what makes the state such an attractive place for crafting beers. The state’s brewery guild claims it would also amount to the single largest beer tax hike in the nation's history.

Laurelwood Public House & Brewing Co. owner Mike De Kalb said the tax may sound like a good idea in this economic climate, but he believes it would cost jobs and not raise enough new tax revenue to justify the increase.

“We’re a family-owned, local Portland business. We don’t want to see something cost taxpayers more than the revenue it would bring in,” De Kalb said.

De Kalb said Oregon would potentially lose its prominence as a craft-brew destination and that some small breweries could potentially go out of business. He said Laurelwood could possibly face job cuts as well. Prior versions of the beer tax bill have exempted small breweries but this one does not, he added.


$1.50 more, or just 15 cents?

“If that tax is passed it would mean consumers would pay $315 million more (in 2009) to buy the same amount of beer they bought in 2008," De Kalb claimed. "A pint of beer would go from $4.50 to $6.”

Rep. Ben Cannon, one of the bill's sponsors, questions whether the true hit to consumers would be as high as beer makers claim. He told KGW his office measured the increase at 15 cents per glass not $1.50.

But Kurt Widmer of Widmer brewing told KGW that in order to keep profit margins constant, he'd increase his price to distributors, who in turn would likely increase prices to retailers, making the 15 cent per class estimate unrealistic.

House Bill 2461 has been introduced by Portland Reps. Ben Cannon and Michael Dembrow, Portland Sens. Jackie Dingfelder and Diane Rosenbaum, and Springfield Sen. William Morrisette.

 

[DanteFox]

nice thread title.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

If it's been 32 years since the last tax increase, it's probably time for another one, but 1900% seems like overkill, to me.

 

[Xabora]

Gonna be some frothing at the mouth over this,

 

[loosus]

If it's been 32 years since the last tax increase, it's probably time for another one

This line of thinking needs to go away. Increases in taxes shouldn't be inevitable (even though we live in a shitty country where that does seem so).

 

[Cooter]

I want to see this go through so people finally stand up and say enough is enough. It seems like taxing beer is the only thing that will outrage people anymore.

 

[TransTrender]

Can someone make a chart that goes something like:

Step 1: State increases taxes on something
Step 2: Business people increase prices because of tax
Step 3: People buy less of that product
Step 4: Business have to cut hours and workers because of reduced income
Step 5: Business turns in less tax revenue to the state
Step 6: State generates less tax revenue from the workers because of reduced hours or layoffs
Step 7: See Step 1

 

[BobbyRobby]

this will hit microbreweries the hardest, making it harder for them to compete. i hate this fucking country. the government is constantly deciding who to fuck over next without causing too much of a ruckuss.

 

[loosus]

Can someone make a chart that goes something like:

Step 1: State increases taxes on something
Step 2: Business people increase prices because of tax
Step 3: People buy less of that product
Step 4: Business have to cut hours and workers because of reduced income
Step 5: Business turns in less tax revenue to the state
Step 6: State generates less tax revenue from the workers because of reduced hours or layoffs
Step 7: See Step 1

You'd have to make it a mathematical function that references itself, because it's a never-ending cycle.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I like the fact that we are taxing the hell out of small viable business then funneling that money into "too big to fail" POS companies. Sounds sustainable.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Man, it is too bad Triumph is banned, he would probably run up to Oregon to burn it to the ground to prevent the infection from spreading.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

This line of thinking needs to go away. Increases in taxes shouldn't be inevitable (even though we live in a shitty country where that does seem so).

From what I could tell, the tax on beer was a specific monetary amount, not a percentage amount based on price; thus, if tax is never increased on it, the state will lose revenues every year as a result of inflation. Unless you can develop a society where inflation doesn't occur, non-percentage based taxes will have to be raised at some point; if it's been 32 years since the last time that the tax increased, I think that the brewers can deal with it. I've already said that 1900% is too much, and I'm not the type of person that advocates for higher taxes on a regular basis; arguing that taxes should NEVER increase just seems silly and counter-intuitive to me.

 

[Phobophile]

Not like Oregon has any good microbreweries that distribute east enough to Chicago.

 

[Thai]

the legislators are drunk out of their minds

 

[draven]

This news makes me pale.

They better get their math straight, while the tax is still in draft.

No tax rates in 32 years? That's a long, dry season.

This is horrible news that makes we want to drink a fermented alcoholic beverage.


I don't think the last one works...

 

[Calcaneus]

I'd like to think that the world would be a lesser place without word play