I’m all for paying my fair share with taxes and am of the persuasion that taxes aren’t inherently evil per se, but 40% of what Minnesotans now pay for beer already goes to taxes. The legislature recently passed a bill that more than doubles the tax on beer as well as the sales tax on alcohol. Ugh. From what I’m told, we’re already pay more taxes on beer in Minnesota than all bordering states – 20% higher than South Dakota, 22% higher than North Dakota, 33% higher than Iowa and 81% higher than Wisconsin.
Contact your legislator… taxes go up, yeah, but double?!
Didn’t you ever stop to wonder how Pawlenty can continue to claim that he’s not raising taxes? Of course he’s raising taxes! You’d have to be a moron not to see through the smokescreen.
Pawlenty might be avoiding “income” tax increases (for now–wait until you see next year’s budget!), but he’s making up for it with massive increases in alcohol taxes…property taxes…reduced funding to counties and cities…cuts in services…increased sales tax…increased gas tax. And none of this does a thing to reduce the largest budget deficit in state history–something that started under “No Tax” Pawlenty’s watch and just grows like cancer.
I just have to wonder how can people fall for his BS year after year. I guess they just swallow whatever he trowels out.
Maybe the alcohol tax increase will finally get people’s attention.
I dislike tax increases as much as the next guy, especially when it comes to our beloved craft beer. But the statistics are off.
“40% of what we pay already” – Not even close. Yes, MN has a comparably high alcohol tax rate of 9%, but 9% does not equal 40%.
Basically the tax, if it passes, would increase the tax amount by about 10 cents per drink. No, it’s not a trivial amount, but it’s not a back-breaker either. With the HUGE state budget deficits lately, we’re all gonna get it one way or another. Taxes will be going up across the board, not just for alcohol.
Besides, we can always drive to WI to stock up. 😉
TPaw wrote this huh? http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/240158/ Then why did he veto it? *scratching my head* Meh, inforum requires log-in. Here’s the Strib update http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/44645882.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUec7PaP3E77K_0c::D3aDhUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
The fact is the House and Senate are DFL controlled. But let’s not quibble over politics. Let’s quibble over beer…over a beer maybe.
Regarding the size of the increase: http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/legal_policy/revenue_analysis/2009_2010/house_files/hf1896_1.pdf
It’s interesting that an assumption used in the analysis is a decrease in consumption. Presumably this would be driven by the increase in taxes and not some other factor. Nice little side benefit for teetotalers maybe?
It never ceases to amaze me how anyone can think raising any taxes is the only acceptable means to balance any budget. Sometimes you simply need to cut the fat from the budget. That’s right, spend less on things we don’t acctually need. The legeslature finds new ways to spend every penny you give them. If you give them a dime the next time they will take a dollar. No tax increase in a state that takes in as much taxes as Minnesota is acceptable. Oh, and if you think the tax increase on beer here is high check out what they’re proposing in the fine state of Oregon, only a 1900% increase.
Hey Jake – the 40% statistic takes into account more than the alcohol tax rate… it includes things such as federal and state excise taxes as well as state sales tax on federal and state excise taxes. RealBeer.com broke this down in the past:
http://www.realbeer.com/blog/?p=906
Everyone – let’s keep this civil… politics light, if you will. This isn’t the place to bag on Tpaw, Republicans or Democrats or Constitutionalists, etc.
Yeah, the realbeer write-up is pretty interesting (and pretty thorough).
Who made the petition web site? It doesn’t say who made it. Why would you sign something for someone who won’t identify themselves?
Ryan, thanks for posting that link. It is a great article. When taxes go up jobs get cut. That’s just the nature of any business.
Good point Brook. You can check out the Facebook site for this to get a bit more information. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=75774225887
When taxes become unjust, exercise your democratic right to complain and petition the government. If they continue unjust taxes, you hit em’ where it hurts – in the wallet. They think everyone will just roll over and pay more taxes – WRONG.
I started homebrewing recently, at least raw ingredients (malt, hops, yeast, etc) aren’t taxed out the wazoo as of yet. Lets hope the gov doesn’t get wind of that one and start taxing accordingly.
no more taxes!