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Revenue-Hungry States Consider Raising Taxes on Beer
Daily Policy Digest

State & Local Issues / State Budgets

Friday, April 04, 2003
Grasping for ways to balance their budgets, states are eyeing breweries. At least 19 states are considering plans to boost beer taxes.

  • Pennsylvania is proposing one of the heftiest taxes, from 8 cents to a quarter on a gallon -- which would raise $55 million a year.
  • Utah's legislature has passed a bill to raise the tax from $11 per barrel to $12.80 -- while Idaho is considering raising its per-gallon tax from 15 cents to 24 cents.
  • The governor of Nevada wants to temporarily increase the tax from 9 cents to 17 cents per gallon.
  • The Arkansas legislature voted to renew a 3 percent tax hike on beer that was passed two years ago.
A spokesman for the D.G. Yuengling & Son brewery has complained that constantly coming to the tobacco and alcohol industries for state revenues is "not fair." He estimates that the Pennsylvania hike would cost his company $4.5 million a year.

Source: Associated Press, "Tax Plans for Beer Are Driving Sellers Nuts," USA Today, April 4, 2003.

For text
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-04-03-beer-tax_x.htm

For more on State Budgets
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/sta/

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