Huckleberries Online

EOB: Panel OKs Beer, Wine Tax Hike

Posted by DFO

Feb. 16, 2009 3:54 p.m. • 15 comments

It was a close 10-8 vote, but the House Revenue & Taxation Committee has agreed to introduce legislation that would hike Idaho’s beer and wine taxes - which haven’t been increased in more than 40 years - more than threefold to provide a stable funding source for substance abuse treatment. Keith Allred, head of The Common Interest, a good-government group, estimated that the higher tax would cost the purchaser of a weekly six-pack about 91 cents more a month. Idaho currently spends about $19 million annually on substance abuse treatment, Allred told the panel. “We’re just suggesting that some of that ought to be offset by those who drink alcohol”/Betsy Russell, SR Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Is this a good time for Idaho to hike beer and wine taxes?

15 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Bent on February 16 at 4:49 p.m.
Dang it…this isn’t funny.
keithincda on February 16 at 5:18 p.m.
Bent, yours is homemade for self-consumption or to be shared with some of your good cyber friends. If you decide to tax it I’ll pay it cause it’s so good!
Cindy_H on February 16 at 6:08 p.m.
My only quarrel with Bent’s brew is that it happens to be ready to pour when it’s really cold outside!
How come?
Now, if you can craft a spring brew to sip in Stickman’s driveway while the birds are twittering, flowers are blooming and Jeanie doesn’t have to wear long johns, why…that would be heaven :-)
We can bring lounge chairs and soak in the rays while enjoying crisp brew and sparkling conversation.
Oh, Bent, make it so!
Stickman on February 16 at 6:32 p.m.
If you want to indulge, then pay the tax, it all goes to a good cause. Bent’s brew is different in a sense, as he makes it himself and doesn’t ask anything, sort of like the stickman and his sticks. He has his passion and I have mine.
Escapee on February 16 at 9:37 p.m.
Hmmm…I just realized something…Mr. Stickman could donate a stick to Mr. Bent to stir the vats of home brew with…
scootermom on February 17 at 7:52 a.m.
I don’t have kids in school, but my tax dollars support public education. There’s a lot of public services I don’t directly use, but support with taxes. Substance abuse costs everyone - higher crime, increased health care costs, neglected children, etc. Taxpayers should share the cost of substance abuse treatment. Not just those who enjoy a cool brew now and again.
moscow_minidoka on February 17 at 8:20 a.m.
Alcohol is the only thing keeping me sane and alive right now… please don’t raise the price of my medicine. Be merciful.
Stickman on February 17 at 8:26 a.m.
Escapee: Bent already has such a stick. Anyone that ever visits here ends up with one, so hopefully everyone makes that effort someday.

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.