Oregon’s 1900% Beer Tax Increase

With state governments scurrying around searching to find extra money like field mice scavenging for cheese, they are coming up with some unusual and overzealous scenarios. This week an Oregon legislator announced an idea to raise beer taxes. When governments want more of your money, they always go straight to the easiest tax to hike: the Sin Tax. Too bad I enjoy sinning and always seem to get stuck with the tab.

Now your local thief Oregon legislator may tell you that this tax will raise a pint of beer at most by 15 cents and that the current tax is only one measly cent. Who can’t afford 15 cents? And, I mean, come on…the only thing worst than something NOT being taxed, is something being taxed too low, right? But critics are fast to point out that the tax could amount to a $1.50 increase PER PINT. How can this be??? Well the increase per barrel of beer would be around $50, and some (in the beer lobby, so maybe their numbers are a tad high) say that once everyone on the supply chain takes their cut, the cost increase from the tax will increase the cost of the finished product by a lot. This means the famous microbreweries in Oregon could be out of business with the new tax.

So what is the big deal with increasing the taxes? Who cares about a bunch of drunk hippies? Charging them an extra $1.50 will get more taxes for our government officials to waste. Right? I know many of you slept through economics class, but the higher something costs (or in this case a tax), the less people will spend, meaning less tax revenue for government. Since fewer products are being bought, the beer companies and microbreweries have less revenue, as well, and profits drop and the breweries are forced to lay off people. More become unemployed creating a bigger strain on tax resources of the state and now since the state is getting less tax revenue, because of this simple increase in beer taxes, they have to cut more programs and/or increase taxes somewhere else. See the vicious cycle? Are you dizzy too? Let me put down my beer.

Now, maybe Oregon’s beer tax is a little low right now. It hasn't been raised in three decades. Or, maybe the government is too big and there should be fewer taxes. However, when your state has an industry built around brewing beer, maybe you need to keep the taxes low on that industry so people keep their jobs. One thing is for sure, a potential increase of this magnitude is too much for any time period, but especially at a time of such economic uncertainty. I mean, how are people going to drown their sorrows when they get laid off if beer is prohibitively expensive? This tax increase gets a Spork Rating of:

NO SPORKS!!

Not even for effort.