There’s plenty of pushback on beer and booze tax hikes, being proposed at the state Capitol. Brandon Scholz with the Wisconsin Grocers Association says his members are crunching the numbers, and don’t like what they see from the combined impact of proposed beer and liquor tax hikes. Not only that, they’re skeptical the money raised will actually go to combat drunk driving.
AUDIO: Brandon Scholz (:11 MP3)
A state Senate committee last week recommended raising the tax on hard liquor 50 cents a liter to help pay for tougher drunk driving enforcement. And tomorrow, an Assembly committee takes public testimony on a proposal to raise the beer tax by 2.4 cents per bottle.
Indeed, it’s expected the beer tax increase would raise $58 million annually, and that the liquor tax increase would raise $25 million a year. Scholz says that adds up to higher costs for retailers and consumers – and maybe job losses.
