San Jose Dem Goes After Big Beer

A freshman Democrat in the California legislature wants to fund health issues by increasing the tax on beer by 1,500%:

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."

If the people of this country ever stop smoking or drinking alcohol the funding for many health issues will evaporate and a real crisis will ensue. Legislators have piled on so many "sin" taxes that the worst thing that could happen for the state and federal budget is for people to wise up and quit using those products. Legislators are confident that will never happen, and thus feel quite secure in increasing those taxes to pay for their pet projects.

Thanks to a taxpayer revolt a few years ago it's now very difficult to raise taxes in California, so plans like the one above have little chance of success. Still, isn't it interesting that the first choice of a Democrat is a tax increase, and a stiff one at that.