1500% tax increase on my beer? KILL KILL KILL!!!

[Blind_Io]

Want to know how the Democrats can loose this election? How about one in San Jose, NannyState (CA), US.

He wants to pass a 1500% tax increase on that sweet nectar of life, beer.

They have taken away our guns, so I call upon you all to RISE UP! Rise up and stab them with your biodegradable forks!

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8888028?source=rss

Higher state tax on beer?

ASSEMBLYMAN BEALL PROPOSES BIG INCREASE
By Mike Zapler
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
Article Launched: 04/11/2008 01:34:17 AM PDT


SACRAMENTO - Joe Six-pack will have to pay a lot more to get his buzz on if Assemblyman Jim Beall has his way.
The San Jose Democrat on Thursday proposed raising the beer tax by $1.80 per six-pack, or 30 cents per can or bottle. The current tax is 2 cents per can. That's an increase of about 1,500 percent.
Beall said the tax would generate $2 billion a year to fund health care services, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and addiction.
"The people who use alcohol should pay for part of the cost to society, just like we've accepted that concept with tobacco," Beall said.
He added that the beer tax hasn't been touched since 1991, and the increase then was meager.
But the freshman lawmaker will have to lift the legislative equivalent of a full keg of beer over his head to get his tax enacted. That's because it would require a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and Senate - and then, because it's a constitutional amendment, it would have to be approved by voters. Republicans say it's a non-starter.
"I predict the shelf life will be very short," said Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Sacramento, vice chairman of the budget committee. "It's a piecemeal approach to the budget that completely avoids any discussion of spending discipline, which is fundamentally why we have the problem that we have."
Mike Fox Sr., chairman of San Jose-based beer distributor M.E. Fox & Co., said Beall's heart is in the right place. "He's very dedicated in areas of health," Fox said. "But a tax of that nature is far too grievous. The beer industry produces so much for the economy. He won't get to first base with that."
Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Co., calculated that the tax on a barrel of beer would go from $6.40 to $89. "We would all be looking for jobs," he said.
Beall said he's targeting beer because his research showed that California undertaxes brew relative to other states, which he said isn't the case with wine and spirits. But it's also true that taking on the beer lobby will be hard enough for Beall, without letting it team up with the wine and spirits industries.
Beall, a former Santa Clara County supervisor, has focused heavily on underage drinking during his time in Sacramento. He is pushing legislation that would require the sweet alcoholic malt beverages known as "alco-pops" to include warning labels clearly stating that they contain alcohol.
And last year, Beall lobbied successfully to persuade the state Franchise Tax Board to tax "alco-pops" at the rate assessed to hard liquor products instead of beer - a move that was expected to raise the price of a six pack by about $2. The increase is scheduled to go into effect later this year.
That effort, however, did not require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature.

Fuck you! If I want to pickle my liver then it's my choice!

[Crazyjeeper]

Wow, that pisses me off to no end and I can't even buy the stuff yet.

[stevanford1]

You would have thought that he wanted to win the election.

[Cobol74]

My guess is that they think that more people are in favour than against and this equals more votes - damn that democracy thing. ... Anyhow McCain will win by a country mile IMHO.

/BTW "ASSEMBLYMAN BEALL"

[Buba]

lol, there will be Revolution!

[Lilleput]

Government really should stop trying to control how people behave, it's the beginning of a Dictatorship for one and it does not work!

We already pay out the ass for cigarettes, beer and driving, same goes for just about anything that is just mildly bad for you if people really want to kill themselves with cheese a Cheese Tax of 12% isn't going to stop them!!

[Cobol74]

^ "cheese a Cheese Tax of 12%"? Those rotters. ...

[Lilleput]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

^ "cheese a Cheese Tax of 12%"? Those rotters. ...

Yeah.. There's a Candy Tax too.

[LurkerPatrol]

Man this is crap. I turn 21 in 14 days... and I'm going to get fleeced that night for buying alcohol?




I wish I had some beer now to drown my sorrows regarding this issue...




...

[tigger]

$89 of tax on a keg? Holy shit, that would mean something like a 150% increase on kegs of the cheap stuff. This guy probably won't even survive to the next election, definitely not once fraternities get wind of this.

[thedguy]

I doubt it'll pass. If it does, they better start providing better fucking health care!

OK I just got to here "it would require a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and Senate - and then, because it's a constitutional amendment, it would have to be approved by voters." and then "The beer industry produces so much for the economy. He won't get to first base with that."

No chance in hell, this wasn't even worth bitching about. He's just wasting tax payer money by even trying this.

[phuckingduck]

I didn't read the attached article as I had read another article in the past few days about this tax. The guy had some funny reasoning to do this. But my favorite was that the tax is to help ensure that beer makers are good corporate citizens! Because compulsory activity makes you a good citizen! Hey cop, toss off, I'm a good citizen because I pay my taxes...not because I follow the applicable laws and regulations that relate to my daily and business activities!! Alcohol companies aren't responsible for alcoholism, nor are they responsible for the myriad of alcohol related health ailments. Just as a bullet manufacture isn't responsible for the hole in the chest of the guy who broke into my home.

The other part about this is that it's a compolsury tax on brewers. Of course this doesn't apply to spirit or wine producers. It applies to the people who make drinks that are the bane of our society. If you want to tax alcohol, tax it all equally and make it a point of sale tax rather than a production/shipment based tax.

I'm just irked by all degrees of aim related to this bill. Typical elitist politician with no basis in reality.

[DTMracer]

Don't politicians have enough issues to sit on their asses and argue in parliament all day about already? Honestly, they might as well start banning soft drinks because it may cause kids to get fat (aside from bad parenting, obviously).

[Twerp128]

So alcohol theft in California will be up then?

[Cobol74]

Must admit I have never heard of a beer company grabbing you, holding you down, and forcing you to drink their stuff - except Bud possibly of course. ....

[Blind_Io]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Must admit I have never heard of a beer company grabbing you, holding you down, and forcing you to drink their stuff - except Bud possibly of course. ....

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are talking about. How did we go from discussing beer to American Budweiser?

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by DTMracer

Don't politicians have enough issues to sit on their asses and argue in parliament all day about already? Honestly, they might as well start banning soft drinks because it may cause kids to get fat (aside from bad parenting, obviously).

They've already done it at (public) schools in some states.

[NooDle]

1500% sounds like a helluvalot of money, but it's just 30 cents a can.
So what?