This pint of beer may not be available in years to come if the Oregon Legislature has its way. In order to make up for a budget shortfall, they are recommending a 1900% increase in the per barrel beer tax. Think about that? Going from around $2 a barrel in taxes to $50 overnight. Think the brewers will survive? I think not. Oh, and this would only pertain to beer made in Oregon, so we’re shooting ourselves in the foot while allowing out of state breweries to swoop in and stock the shelves with product much cheaper.
Oregon has 95 microbreweries, more than any other state per-capita. Why would the legislature want to go after such a thriving business? It doesn’t make sense. I know we’re in a tough economy, but moves like this will kill an industry, not just shore up a budget for a few years. Five years from now, when the economy has recovered, do you think there will still be breweries around? Probably not. Or, they would have moved to the border states where the taxes are lower. I could see Vancouver becoming a micro-brew haven. Hmmm. Any good warehouse space up there for cheap?
The Oregon Brewer’s Guild has a petition up citing specific real costs of this measure in jobs and industry. If you think like I do, please go out and sign the petition. Further, contact your state representatives and the guv and tell they you would much rather drink Hopworks and Bridgeport as opposed to Sam Adams and Coors.
{ 2 comments }
That is an almost stunningly stupid idea, unless the intent was to kill off Oregon’s small-scale brewers.
Beervana put up some stats showing we’re at the low end for beer tax across the county with $2.60 a barrel. Alaska on the other hand is $33.17. The proposal would put Oregon at $50. I’m all for maybe raising the tax to generate some funds, but not 1900%.
Comments on this entry are closed.