stephanie
02-01-2007, 02:41 PM
REP. TERESE BERCEAU
Berceau, a Democrat from Madison, represents Wisconsin's 76th Assembly District.
A lot has changed since 1969. Gas was 35 cents a gallon, a stamp cost 6 cents, the median income was a little over $8,000.
But one thing hasn't changed - the state excise tax on beer. It's still $2 a barrel. That's about half a penny for a 12-ounce glass - the third lowest in the country. It needs to be raised to help pay for vital programs to treat and prevent alcohol abuse.
We know the terrible impact caused by people who misuse alcohol.
Last year alone, Wisconsin had 42,000 drunken driving arrests, with 369 fatalities and 6,000 injuries related to alcohol.
Alcohol played a significant role in the crimes committed by close to half of the 22,000 prisoners incarcerated in Wisconsin.
We have the highest adult binge-drinking rate and the second highest rate among college students. We lead the nation in moderate to heavy drinking by pregnant women.
We rank 48th worst in the nation in alcohol-related per capital health care expenses. Over-drinking creates costs related to job loss, lost productivity, domestic violence, academic failure, law enforcement, and incarceration.
While the average Wisconsin resident pays just $1.75 annually in beer taxes, you are paying a lot more in hidden costs for someone else's party.
We each pay another $18.64 in publicly financed alcohol treatment and $154 in health care costs for treating alcohol- related diseases and accidents.
We pay another $653 in alcohol-related criminal justice and societal costs. The revenue raised by the current tax comes nowhere close to paying our invisible bar tab.
Opponents of a higher beer tax claim that beer is the drink of the average working- class "Joe Six-Pack" and a tax hits him hardest.
But that's myth, folks, not fact. Beer consumption is split almost evenly across upper and lower income levels (with slightly more beer consumption among the upper brackets).
I am not a prohibitionist. I drink beer. I like martinis too, especially chocolate (sorry to you purists). But I don't want to subsidize someone else's party, especially one that causes misery and death.
That is why I am again introducing a bill that would target new beer tax revenue specifically to treatment and prevention programs. Doesn't it make sense to treat the problem before it involves illness, death, or incarceration?
When will we stop thinking of over-indulging as an acceptable Wisconsin tradition and treat it for what it is - something that kills and destroys the lives of drinkers and innocent bystanders. Alcoholism is not a cultural norm we should be proud of.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/other/index.php?ntid=116463&ntpid=5
Berceau, a Democrat from Madison, represents Wisconsin's 76th Assembly District.
A lot has changed since 1969. Gas was 35 cents a gallon, a stamp cost 6 cents, the median income was a little over $8,000.
But one thing hasn't changed - the state excise tax on beer. It's still $2 a barrel. That's about half a penny for a 12-ounce glass - the third lowest in the country. It needs to be raised to help pay for vital programs to treat and prevent alcohol abuse.
We know the terrible impact caused by people who misuse alcohol.
Last year alone, Wisconsin had 42,000 drunken driving arrests, with 369 fatalities and 6,000 injuries related to alcohol.
Alcohol played a significant role in the crimes committed by close to half of the 22,000 prisoners incarcerated in Wisconsin.
We have the highest adult binge-drinking rate and the second highest rate among college students. We lead the nation in moderate to heavy drinking by pregnant women.
We rank 48th worst in the nation in alcohol-related per capital health care expenses. Over-drinking creates costs related to job loss, lost productivity, domestic violence, academic failure, law enforcement, and incarceration.
While the average Wisconsin resident pays just $1.75 annually in beer taxes, you are paying a lot more in hidden costs for someone else's party.
We each pay another $18.64 in publicly financed alcohol treatment and $154 in health care costs for treating alcohol- related diseases and accidents.
We pay another $653 in alcohol-related criminal justice and societal costs. The revenue raised by the current tax comes nowhere close to paying our invisible bar tab.
Opponents of a higher beer tax claim that beer is the drink of the average working- class "Joe Six-Pack" and a tax hits him hardest.
But that's myth, folks, not fact. Beer consumption is split almost evenly across upper and lower income levels (with slightly more beer consumption among the upper brackets).
I am not a prohibitionist. I drink beer. I like martinis too, especially chocolate (sorry to you purists). But I don't want to subsidize someone else's party, especially one that causes misery and death.
That is why I am again introducing a bill that would target new beer tax revenue specifically to treatment and prevention programs. Doesn't it make sense to treat the problem before it involves illness, death, or incarceration?
When will we stop thinking of over-indulging as an acceptable Wisconsin tradition and treat it for what it is - something that kills and destroys the lives of drinkers and innocent bystanders. Alcoholism is not a cultural norm we should be proud of.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/other/index.php?ntid=116463&ntpid=5