-Caveat Lector- http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=16017
Group drafts big hike in beer tax 1,271% increase would pay for alcohol treatment BY MARY BELLOTTI AND ANDY GIEGERICH Issue date: 1/17/2003 The Tribune A fight is brewing over Oregon�s beer tax. A group called It�s Time for a Dime Committee is drafting a bill that would increase the tax paid by the state�s beer producers and distributors from $2.60 a gallon to $35.64 per gallon, a whopping 1,271 percent increase. The tax would increase from less than a penny per bottle to 10 cents for distributors, says Nina Robart, a committee organizer. �We are asking for a substantial increase,� she concedes. But the beer tax hasn�t been raised since 1977 and thus remains among the nation�s lowest. And with the state eliminating or drastically cutting back on drug and alcohol abuse programs, it is time for the industry to �step up,� she said. The committee hopes to get the proposal before the Oregon Legislature early this session. �It�s not going to happen,� says Portland attorney Paul Romain, the influential lobbyist who represents the Oregon Beer and Wine Distributors Association and has fought dozens of similar proposals since he began representing the association in 1983. Romain was instrumental in defeating a proposal in the last legislative session that would have raised taxes on beer and wine by a nickel. For one thing, Romain says, legislators are not going to buy a 1,200- percent increase in the beer tax. And the reason the tax hasn�t been raised is that �Oregon is a beer- producing state, and you don�t discourage what you�re producing.� �We�re the single biggest producer of microbrew (beers) in the country,� he notes. Proponents say they would exempt Oregon microbreweries from any tax increase. Romain said that likely would be illegal. Courts have ruled that �If you tax one, you tax everybody,� he said. Robart said state lawmakers might be more sympathetic to a beer tax this time. �Consumption of alcohol � and particularly beer � has an impact on the cost of social services,� said Robart, former director of the Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking. �We�re talking about a lifetime of an industry never paying for the cost of its product, the use of which is causing a fair amount of damage to people.� The tax would raise $85 million a year, which would be used to pay for alcohol prevention and treatment programs and for law enforcement services. Romain and Oregon brewers say the tax burden would fall on local distributors, who pay excise fees when they collect beverages before selling them to retailers and taverns at wholesale prices. That means, they say, that distributors such as Portland�s Columbia Distributing and Maletis Beverage would pay the large increases, not manufacturers such as St. Louis-based behemoth Anheuser Busch Companies Inc. The price hike would be passed down by distributors to retailers, who would pass it along to consumers, said Fred Bowman, president of Portland Brewing Co. The increase proposed by Robart�s group could result in a 15-cent- per- bottle increase for beer drinkers. �Ultimately, the consumer would pay the tax,� Bowman said. �It effectively raises prices and hurts business.� Jim Parker, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild, a state industry group, thinks the increase might even drive some distributors out of business. �I don�t know anyone who thinks a 1,000-percent increase is ever a good idea,� he said. Still, there may be enough support in the 2003 Legislature for a beer- tax increase, and perhaps on wine, too, said Sen. Bill Morrisette, D- Springfield, who sponsored last session�s nickel tax increase on beer and wine. �We want to take a nonpartisan approach,� said Morrisette, who will try to find ways to exempt the state�s small microbreweries and wineries. Legislators may listen because �the revenue will go to alcohol-related programs that are being cut.� Support for hikes in the state�s beer and wine tax is gaining support among other groups besides the It�s Time for a Dime Committee. The Governor�s Task Force on the Alcohol Beverage Industry, a 21- member group that has been meeting since last summer, will make recommendations next month on ways to improve Oregon�s alcohol industry. The group includes legislators, industry representatives, law officers and alcohol prevention and treatment programs. One proposal under consideration is to raise the beer tax, said Morrisette, a task force member. The task force�s chairman, Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake, says he feels �a beer tax increase would be a good idea.� �The fact is, the problems we�re trying to deal with are related to drinking,� he said. �This is simply a way to have users help pay for alcohol- related problems.� If the Legislature fails to pass a beer tax increase, �we�re prepared to make it an initiative and gather signatures and put it before the people,� Morrisette said. �We feel we will have a strong enough coalition.� Contact Mary Bellotti at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and Andy Giegerich at [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOP NEWS BUSINESS PORTLAND LIFE SPORTS INSIGHT CUE GREENLIGHT CLASSIFIEDS PRIVACY POLICY CONTACT US � 2002 THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE Forwarded for your information. 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