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Alcohol Policies Home |
Date
Senator / Representative
Full Address (for the Senate, click
here. For the House, click
here.)
Dear Senator / Representative _________ :
I am writing to ask that you oppose any reductions in federal excise taxes
on alcoholic beverages, and decline co-sponsorship of bills promoted by the
beer and liquor industries to substantially reduce excise taxes on those
products (House beer-tax rollback bill H.R.
1306/S.
722
and any House or Senate
bill that may be introduced to reduce beer or liquor taxes). For the
following reasons, such legislation is bad public health and fiscal policy:
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Current federal and state taxes on alcoholic beverages don’t come close to
offsetting the public health and safety costs of alcohol consumption. If
anything, beer and liquor taxes should be raised to help meet prevention,
treatment, law enforcement, and other costs associated with excessive and
underage drinking.
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By wide margins, the American public supports increases – not decreases – in
alcohol taxes. That’s because more than 35% don’t drink at all and among
those who do, most drink so little that they would barely notice a tax
decrease (or increase). Alcohol tax cuts would benefit only producers and
the 20% of drinkers who consume 85% of the alcohol.
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Federal excise taxes on alcoholic beverages are low. Because those taxes
have been little adjusted for decades, the effective rate of taxation on
those products has declined dramatically, decreasing real revenues and
contributing to a fall in the price of alcoholic beverages relative to other
products.
Lower alcohol taxes would only add to the deficit, cater to a prosperous
industry, reward and encourage heavy drinking, and attract more young
drinkers. Please reject special-interest industry appeals to lower federal
excise taxes on alcoholic beverages. Please consider ways to raise them
instead.
Sincerely,
Name/Contact Information
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