The proposed increase in alcohol taxes draws this response:
Restaurant Trade Association Urges North Carolina to Reject Alcohol Tax Hike
American Beverage Institute Says Alcohol Taxes are Regressive and Cost Jobs
WASHINGTON ? Today the American Beverage Institute (ABI), which represents thousands of American restaurants, denounced the alcohol tax hike proposal in Governor Bev Perdue?s budget. Increasing alcohol taxes costs jobs and disproportionally hurts those who are least able to pay them.
?For brewers, winemakers, distillers, wholesalers, and retailers that have already been under severe strain in this recession, raising beverage taxes, as Gov. Perdue has proposed, will send hundreds of North Carolinians straight to the unemployment line,? said ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell.
According to the Tax Foundation, individuals earning less than $20,000 per year face federal alcohol tax burdens that are more than 18 times higher than individuals making in excess of $200,000. Not only are hospitality taxes on alcohol regressive, they also contribute to job loss: after the federal government doubled the beer tax in 1991, approximately 60,000 Americans in the brewing, distributing, and retailing industries lost their jobs from a shrunken industry.?Beverage alcohol is already one of the highest taxed consumer products in the United States. Too often, hospitality taxes are treated like an ATM to generate extra revenue to make up for wasteful government spending,? said Longwell. She continued, ?as Americans struggle through tough economic conditions, North Carolina could not pick a worse time to increase taxes.?
You’ll find John Hood’s take on the governor’s tax proposals here.
HT: Paul Chesser
