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Doubling Ohio's Alcohol Tax Bad For Ohio's Families

Thursday, May 5, 2005

Doubling Ohio’s alcohol tax a catastrophe for the state and working individuals and families Prentiss: “This is a hidden tax increase for millions of Ohioans” (Columbus)- Today the leader of the Ohio Senate Democrats – C.J. Prentiss of Cleveland- condemned Governor Bob Taft and Republican legislators’ plan to double the tax on beer and wine in Ohio. Last month, the Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives passed the budget bill which included doubling the beer tax in Ohio from 18 cents to 36 cents per gallon or 40.5 to 81 cents per case of beer. The bill now rests with the Ohio Senate and will be voted on in the next couple of months. “This is yet another tax increase by the Republicans that negatively impacts both manufacturers and average Ohioans,” said Senator Prentiss. “When the federal government doubled the beer tax in 1991, Ohio’s alcohol industry suffered a job loss. Now if the alcohol tax is doubled again, it will be déjà vu for the industry. Senate Republicans need to back off from crippling one of our key manufacturing sectors.” The statement comes on the heels of the beer and wine lobbying community’s delivery of “No Beer Tax” petitions to members of the Ohio General Assembly and Governor Taft yesterday. The petitions which numbered into the tens of thousands were dropped off in beer cases. Fallout from doubling the alcohol tax includes: Potential loss of 1,500 Ohio jobs Tax is regressive for consumers especially lower and middle class individuals and families More than half of all beer sold in Ohio is bought by families earning $45,000 or less a year Damage to one of the state’s largest manufacturing sectors. Ohio ranks fourth in the nation for beer production. Beer industry provides more than 78,000 jobs in this state and has a $6.7 billion impact. Average full-time union brewery job including overtime pays approx. $70,000 a year (with a full benefits package added the total comes to $115,000). Bordering states such as Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky will reap the benefits of better alcohol sales