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PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
1) Who drinks a 12-oz beer in this town? Not me, unless I'm too drunk/bloated to finish one...more...pint.
2) While the tax sounds massive at the barrel level, on a typical $4.50 pint the additional cost is about 3-3.5%.
3) Economically speaking, as with every other attempt I'd expect a craft-brewers' adjustment to either put a barrel floor on the tax (ie, say 10,000 bbl/yr and under, you don't pay the tax), so weep not for Anheuser Busch and Coors.
4) If the tax had been increased gradually over time since the 70s, it wouldn't need to go up quite as quickly now--but the piper must be paid sometimes.
5) The public health costs from alcohol are MASSIVE, much more than cigarettes I discovered. The same programs for nicotine have resulted in lower usage rates, particularly among kids, where smoking is WAY down among youth in Oregon the last dozen years or so. And the prevention efforts of MADD and others, which I'm not always in agreement with, can make a strong case for reducing drunk driving and youth drunk driving in this country.
4) When the tobacco tax was up for debate in 2007, a more compelling argument for it IMO was that the proceeds of the tax were directly tied to its consumption--that is, prevention and cessation efforts. To argue that the tax should be less directly related, seems odd to me.
5) the bill says Oregon is 49th, not 46th in taxation rate.
6) If 15c makes the difference between fun and pain for you, you probably didn't have enough money to go out to the bars drinking beer in the first place.
It's time for this to happen. Protect smaller brewers, protect Oregon brewers, but the state can't afford the costs that alcohol place on all of us.
As a beer drinker, I'd gladly pay an extra couple of dimes if I knew that it was going towards helping those unfortunate enough to be fighting addiction.
This is probably too big of a discussion to post on a message board, but check out the Oregon State Lottery policy on reserving revenue to pay for treatment. Seems fair to me; if you're going to supply the public with services or goods that are known to be addictive, why not be responsible and contribute to rehabilitation as well?
First the no-smoking bit and now this. This type of tax and prohibition regulation creates illegal speakeasies, and I think that it's time that Portland party people stop paying the people that are trying to tax the party. Bring back the speakeasy.
With all the problems associated with drinking and Oregon's history of low alcohol taxes, is this really something that would be SO detrimental ?
That, and I don't know, a 1600% INCREASE seems like a bad idea in that it will completely FUCKING CRIPPLE the Oregon Brewing Industry.
Hey congresspeople... BABY STEPS!
(I just did my taxes and I donated the kicker again this year. So feel free to dismiss me as some commie or something.)
There's a funding crisis for cops too (as much as I hate them) and our educational system is still pretty lame on a national level. I wonder how much it costs to fund OLCC each year?
Support your local brewer and just pay to drink at his house (if he even charges you)....
In case you're interested, here's an article I wrote a few months ago about lack of funding for drug treatment despite a doubling of heroin overdoses in Portland:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/pins-a…
Besides, if I find myself out of work, the last thing I want is to be paying more for drowning my sorrows. Damn, give us a fucking break already. I suppose it's time to homebrew.
So a bottle of vodka would be taxed 40 cents and a six pack of beer would be taxed 3.6 cents. Seems fairish to me.
I'm not really sure what you're trying to say there. But to clarify a couple things; the proposed taxes will be statewide measures, not just Portland; the techincal term for alcohol in a liquid is ABV (alcohol by volume).
It's easier to tax the few than the many because that would cost some serious votes across the board and the few seem more like the annoyed than the mass.
They ignore luxury expenditures as if they were something to be protected rather than taxed.
The state of Oregon (and in particular Portland) is pretty much the microbrewery capital of the world. We have more brew pubs per capita than anywhere in the world (Yes, including Germany and Ireland). The Oregon Lottery spent tons of money to build up Oregons Brewery export business. That means money brought into the state from elsewhere providing jobs.
Now they want to raise the tax per barrel on beer in this state. Approx. 1900% From what is currently around $2.60 a barrel to over $52.00 a barrel. (That's 31 gallons or 2 Kegs in a barrel if you were wondering.) This would change Oregons beer tax from one of the cheapest in the nation to one of the most expensive. The national average is $7.87.
During the recession the beer microbrewing industry is one of the things that hasn't had major problems. And, Oregon exports a ton of it.
Here are a few statistics on what they will do to our Oregon micro-breweries tax liability on beer sold.
(based on 2008 in-state sales estimats):
New Old Lompoc Brewery: from $5,330 per year to $107,030
Hopworks Urban Brewery: from $7,857 to $157,778
Ninkasi Brewing: from $18,460 to $370,691
Rogue Ales: from $34,091 to $684,577
BridgePort Brewing: from $60,315 to $1,211,167
Deschutes Brewery: from $215,990 to $4,337,241.
Pay close attention to that last one. Deschutes Brewery is set to expand and is exploring options. The company employs about 280 workers, including 150 in Bend. The rest are in Portland, where the company opened a brewpub last year as well as a few other markets. Currently they have 35 to 40 existing tanks, which produced about 180,000 barrels of beer in 2008, and are nearing full capacity. Expansion plans if they stay in Bend are to add 10 new 45-foot-tall fermentation tanks outside the existing facility. Other growth within the next five to 10 years could include building a new packaging and warehouse facility on 7 acres immediately east of the existing brewery building. THATS NEW JOBS ANDNEW MONEY BROUGHT INTO THE STATE FROM OUTSIDE ITS BORDERS.They have stated that a Bend expansion of facilities is preferable but are now looking at expanding elsewhere or contracting with another company somewhere else to do part of their brewing.
This proposed tax could shut down much of the industry in Oregon. Also making us less marketable by driving up the price of Oregon Beers.
Using 2007 figures, the Deschutes Brewery is the seventh largest craft brewer in the U.S.Sierra Nevada Brewing in Chico is second, and Full Sail Brewing in Hood River is ninth. I would be very interested to see statistics for McMenamins and hear what they have to say on the subject.
An article online by Rich Sellers provides the following -
Jamie Floyd, owner and brewer for Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene has further concerns. “This is being promoted as a 15 cent beer tax, but it’s not,” he says. “Oregon doesn’t have a sales tax.” He continued, saying it’s a business tax levied on Oregon brewers that will be passed along to wholesalers who will pass costs along to retailers, meaning consumers could see dramatic price increases for their pints and bottles of beer.
A 2007 article provides the following -
“Portland has more breweries than any other city in the world. Portland is the largest craft beer market in the U.S. Oregon is the second largest producer of craft beer in the U.S. and Oregon is the second largest craft beer market in the U.S. No wonder Oregon is known as Beervana and is a destination for craft beer lovers from all over the U.S. and the world,” said Brian Butenschoen, Executive Director of the Oregon Brewers Guild.
“Our healthy brewing industry is good for not only beer drinkers, but the state as a whole, because it provides almost 4300 family wage jobs, a lure for tourism and an outlet for local products such as hops, malted barley, yeast and glass,” he added.
He also cited the fact that almost 11 percent of all beer consumed in Oregon is Oregon-brewed craft beer. The national market share for all craft beer is 3.5 percent, according to the Brewers Association.
Let's also not forget the hops, wheat and barley growers the beer industry supports locally. Or how about the glass industry. Willamette Hops is a big industry, so is Oregons brewers yeast industry.
How many jobs are they looking to have us lose. Are our reps in the state government insane?
What's worse Democratic Sen. Rosenbaum is a sponsor. She has 5 small breweries in her district: Lucky Labrador, Roots, Clinton Street, Hopworks, and Philadelphia's. E-mail her and let her know what you think
sen.dianerosenbaum@state.or.us
The bill is sponsored by:
Representative BEN CANNON
District 46
phone - 503-986-1446
email - rep.bencannon@state.or.us
Representative MICHAEL DEMBROW
District 45
phone - 503-986-1445
email - rep.michaeldembrow@state.or.us
Senator JACKIE DINGFELDER
District 23
phone - 503-986-1723 & 503-493-2804
email - sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us
Senator BILL MORRISETTE
District 6
phone - 503-986-1706
email - sen.billmorrisette@state.or.us
Senator DIANE ROSENBAUM
District 21
phone - 503-986-1721 & 503-231-9970
email - sen.dianerosenbaum@state.or.us
Also, this tax is to be levied at the manufacturers level where the usual unit of measurement is in barrels (BBLs). A barrel as defined by US tax law is 31 gallons (or two kegs); so there is "12 oz alcohol tax".
I've noticed more and more speakeasies popping up around town and due to the economy and the restrictive stance on smoking, I've begun to frequent them more and more. The rooms are getting crowded too, and if these absurd regulations and taxes on the few legal vices we have continues, the industry will expand until it becomes a problem.
We want to do what we want to do without being hassled by The Man. And we want to get loaded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Elr5K2Vuo
A thriving industry, creating thousands of jobs, and bringing tourism dollars; an industry that has never asked for subsidy or tax breaks , shouldn't be made to pay for failures of society.
I am betting the vast majority of those addicts who need treatment are meth and heroin addicts