Alcohol Excise Taxes
The Federal Government imposes volume taxes on distilled spirits, wine, and beer that are in addition to State alcohol taxes. Congress raises the taxes only rarely. Federal excise tax policies have contributed to a significant decline in the real price of alcohol since 1960.
For instance, the Federal excise tax on beer amounts to about a nickel per drink-less than seven percent of the average price of a six-pack. Even with a Federal tax increase in 1991, the average price of beer has fallen by more than 25 percent relative to the Consumer Price Index over the past five decades. Had the tax kept up with inflation over the past 40 years, today's $18 per-barrel tax would total approximately $61.60, or $1.05 per six-pack, more than two-and-one-half times the current rate.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has a new resource, the "Factbook on $tate Beer Taxe$", for alcohol-policy activists, policy makers, educators, and journalists, intended to inform the debate on alcohol taxes and other alcohol-policy issues and stimulate discussion about the appropriate role of the beer industry in societal attempts to combat alcohol problems.
The "Factbook on $tate Beer Taxe$" provides comprehensive data on beer-tax rates across the country and examines the steady, inflation-induced decline in the value of those taxes to state government. The data reveal that 22 states have not raised beer taxes for more than two decades, and that one state, New York, has even reduced its rate. It shows how most states have ignored strong fiscal and public health rationales for increasing beer taxes.
For more "myths and facts about beer taxes" visit the website of the CSPI's Alcohol Policies Project: http://www.cspinet.org/booze/taxguide/TaxIndex.htm. |
