News Video, 1,900% beer tax (sales, 2009, insurance)

[John1960]

KGW's Scott Burton reports on a proposed beer tax in Oregon- a 1,900% percent beer tax.

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

[Terryj]

I saw that on the news, geez, if the tax now is only about 2.50 a keg, why not just raise to to 5.00 a keg. To raise it to 40+ dollars is absurd.

[Wicked Felina]

Sounds like it's going to be a back door entry to sales tax. Even if this does pass, it will be a great burden on one of the fewest economically healthy industries in Oregon. People argue that a higher tax will lower rates of alcohol-related deaths, and the high number of underage drinking. I find that hard to believe; people who buy alcohol and cigarettes (high tax didn't slow down consumption) will always find money to buy it.

What a colossally bad idea.

[haggardhouseelf]

I'm torn on this. I've lost friends and family members due to alcoholism and drunk drivers. My mother was also an alocholic, and as her oldest child I saw first-hand how horrible the disease is and how it hurts not only the drinker but everyone around them. If this tax would go to help alcoholics and their families and help reduce alcohol-related crime and deaths, I'm all for it. I'm also a mother and like the idea of making it harder for kids to obtain alcohol. I also see the flip-side, though... it's going to hurt especially small local businesses, and then as SeeBee mentioned - people who are determined to drink will find a way no matter what. My mother was a single, unemployed mother of four kids yet somehow she got her box or two of wine every night. We didn't have food or decent clothes and our lights were turned off more than once, but she got her wine - even if it meant selling appliances and anything else she could and sleeping around with other drunks to get it. The Native American tribes (Casino's) don't have to pay taxes on these items - do they? So this would mean more people opting to go to the Casino's to drink and purchase these things. It's really a no-win situation. Instead of alcohol and cigarettes, maybe they should tax toilet paper. Everybody needs it and uses it, and the use of it doesn't hurt anybody. They'd make a killing... think of all the rolls we use in this state every day!

[bobmulk]

How about making government workers pay more for their insurance like the rest of us? And why so many holidays every year? How much would that save?

[West coast at heart]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

I'm torn on this. I've lost friends and family members due to alcoholism and drunk drivers. My mother was also an alocholic, and as her oldest child I saw first-hand how horrible the disease is and how it hurts not only the drinker but everyone around them. If this tax would go to help alcoholics and their families and help reduce alcohol-related crime and deaths, I'm all for it. I'm also a mother and like the idea of making it harder for kids to obtain alcohol. I also see the flip-side, though... it's going to hurt especially small local businesses, and then as SeeBee mentioned - people who are determined to drink will find a way no matter what. My mother was a single, unemployed mother of four kids yet somehow she got her box or two of wine every night. We didn't have food or decent clothes and our lights were turned off more than once, but she got her wine - even if it meant selling appliances and anything else she could and sleeping around with other drunks to get it. The Native American tribes (Casino's) don't have to pay taxes on these items - do they? So this would mean more people opting to go to the Casino's to drink and purchase these things. It's really a no-win situation. Instead of alcohol and cigarettes, maybe they should tax toilet paper. Everybody needs it and uses it, and the use of it doesn't hurt anybody. They'd make a killing... think of all the rolls we use in this state every day!

I like it! We could call it the "roll tax"!

I personally think the tax is excessive. It sounds like their are several breweries in OR. This tax will cause the small guys to possibly lose their companies. Is this worth the effort? The pebble thrown into the pond has many ripples that will reach further than those around it. What is next?

wc@h

[West coast at heart]

Originally Posted by SeeBee

Sounds like it's going to be a back door entry to sales tax. Even if this does pass, it will be a great burden on one of the fewest economically healthy industries in Oregon. People argue that a higher tax will lower rates of alcohol-related deaths, and the high number of underage drinking. I find that hard to believe; people who buy alcohol and cigarettes (high tax didn't slow down consumption) will always find money to buy it.

What a colossally bad idea.

I agree. Raising prices and educating the public did not deter smokers from smoking. It did not even prevent people from starting to smoke. I see kids and adults everyday who smoke like there will be no tomorrow. And smoking at any degree of smoking(one cig or one pack/day) will cause cancer.

Beer can be consumed responsibly and not be detrimental to ones health. Heck there are reports that it can be beneficial. (anitoxidants). So where does raising taxes to insane levels help?

I have no answers. I just find such ideas "taxing" (pun intended).

wc@h

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by West coast at heart

I agree. Raising prices and educating the public did not deter smokers from smoking. It did not even prevent people from starting to smoke.
wc@h

Since there has never been a controlled study, we don't know if what you are saying is true.

It is entirely possible that raising prices and education deterred some people from smoking and prevented some people from starting to smoke.

[Silverfall]

The problem as I see it is that this applies only to beer, if I understand this correctly...so things like hard lemonades, barcardi drinks, etc will be cheap.

I can see them wanting to maybe double it or something, but I agree that it is totally excessive. Why don't they split the tax evenly among all liquors, so wine, beer, hard alcohol all share in the cost of treatment?

[DezertGirl]

Caution, Oregonians.
The California Tax ideas are coming.
RUN!!!!
No, VOTE!!!
You cannot allow these taxes to happen. This will only be the beginning. It will ruin your way of life and suck the passion right out of you. We all agree that alchohol and cigarette smoking is hazardous to many, many people and the horror stories abound. But this tax will not help.
Timber sales are in the tank. I know of many Oregon state forestry employees that are lazy slobs and not worth their pay...if they were employed in the private sector, they would have been fired long ago. And waste is rampant. Instead of cutting back in a serious manner (and trimming the payroll, among other cutbacks), the state will create sob stories to get you to agree with more taxes. Don't do it -
Not for the "children".
Not for the "homeless"
Not for the "victims of alchoholism".
Not for the "schools".
Not for the "poor".
Not for the "hospitals".
Not for the "crime victims".
Not for the "victims of secondhand or direct smoke".
Those people and projects will most likely never see a dime.

The minute we get to Oregon, I'm registering to vote.