No Drink Tax

WASHINGTON – Today the American Beverage Institute (ABI), which represents over 300 Illinois restaurants, denounced the alcohol tax hike awaiting Governor Quinn’s approval or rejection. Increasing alcohol taxes costs jobs and disproportionally hurts those who are least able to pay them.
 

“Brewers, winemakers, distillers, wholesalers, and retailers have already been under severe strain in this recession,” said ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell. “Raising beverage taxes will an estimated 4,500 Illinoisans straight to the unemployment line.”
 

Over one-third of all beverage alcohol consumers come from households having income of less than $50,000, which means that these taxes disproportionately hurt low income Americans. Not only are hospitality taxes on alcohol regressive, they also contribute to job loss: after the federal government doubled the beer tax in 1991, approximately 60,000 Americans in the brewing, distributing, and retailing industries lost their jobs from a shrunken industry.
 

“Beverage alcohol is already one of the highest taxed consumer products in the United States. Too often, hospitality taxes are treated like an ATM to generate extra revenue to make up for wasteful government spending,” said Longwell. She continued, “as Americans struggle through tough economic conditions, Illinois could not pick a worse time to increase taxes.”