Jun 09 2009
Oppose the increase on the Federal Excise Tax on Beer
I have sent a message to Boxer and Feinstein to oppose this stupid tax increase, and if you love beer, and the wonderful variety of it that we have in California, you should as well. This is what I am sending to them:
As you well know, the Senate Finance Committee is considering a proposal to raise the Federal Excise Tax on Beer as a part of health care discussion. This is a bad idea!
The concept of a tax on a vice is self-defeating. So we need money to pay for single-payer health care (assuming that is a good thing to have… a proposition that is by no means certain). Taxing production of a good (thereby increasing the cost of said good) with the express stated purpose of lessening the consumption of said good can ONLY lead to a decrease in tax revenues from this source. The single-payer health care plans, on the other hand, are ONLY going to rise, or at the VERY best stay level. This tax, then MAY only provide a short term boost in funding, and is not a sustainable proposition for funding of this health care plan.
What’s more, who is the Senate Finance Committee to determine what I should or should not consume? There are things in this world FAR more harmful to the human body than alcohol, and where in the Constitution does the Federal Government have the power to regulate our habits? (And no, “to promote the general welfare” does not count. That is part of the preamble, which explains why the Constitution was necessary, and not a granting of powers to the government.)
Finally, this proposition will only harm small businesses who cannot afford to absorb the cost of this increase, and MUST pass this on to the consumers. When prices go up, the demand for a good at the new, higher price will fall, and this will torpedo the brewing industry, which is really only starting to gain its momentum against the lesser-quality, but lower priced mass-producing brewing giants. So how is this a GOOD thing in an economic climate where small businesses are failing right and left already? How will this stimulate the economy, and raise consumer sentiment, when they see their favorite breweries being shut down because of a tax increase that is only doomed to raise less and less each month…BY DESIGN?
I am overtaxed, and I cannot afford more taxes. Beer is one of life’s great pleasures, when it’s done well, and the very businesses that are producing beer that is done well are the businesses that will be harmed by this foolhardy idea.
Please oppose the increase of the Federal Excise Tax on Beer, and protect the jobs and well-being of many who depend on the brewing industry, and the well-rated California brewing scene to boot.
Support Your Local Brewery had this to say about the excise tax:
http://www.sylb.org/excisetax.html
Seriously, send a message to Washington letting them know that their decisions as to what you should or should not put in your body are totally out of line, and taxing us to do so is even more ridiculous.
