Ohio Senate May Nix Doubling Beer/Wine Tax

(Columbus)- As of today, news reports indicate Senate Democrats may have succeeded in removing the doubling of the beer tax in the Taft/GOP budget. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported today that Ohio Senate President Bill Harris is completing a plan that would nix the tax completely from the budget. Last month, the Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives passed the budget bill which included doubling the beer tax in Ohio from 18 cents to 36 cents per gallon or 40.5 cents per case of beer. The result of this tax hike would have been the elimination of 1,500 jobs in the beer manufacturing industry. The bill now rests with the Ohio Senate. “Ohio cannot endure another blow to its economy and working families,” said Ohio Senate Democratic Leader C.J. Prentiss of Cleveland. “Job creation is key for Democrats, we have fought for it and we have a pending victory here for working families and for Ohio’s economy. If we eliminate the proposed beer tax, we retain more than a thousand jobs in Ohio. Democrats have advocated all along that doubling the beer tax would cripple one of our key industries in Ohio. Senate Democrats are glad that the Republicans are starting to look to our plan. We call on Governor Taft and the Republican Party to adopt our entire budget to give tax relief to Ohio families and bring jobs back to the state.” Recently in a released press statement, the Ohio Senate Democrats strongly encouraged the Republican majority in the Senate not to double the alcohol tax for fear of the massive job loss it would bring to one of Ohio’s key manufacturing sectors- the beer industry. Eliminating the beer/wine tax is one of the hidden taxes in the Taft/GOP plan that we may be removing from the budget. Fallout from doubling the beer/wine tax includes:

• Potential loss of 1,500 Ohio jobs
• Disproportionate impact/regressive on lower and middle class individuals and families
• Damage to one of the state’s largest manufacturing sectors. Ohio ranks fourth in the nation for beer production. Beer industry provides more than 78,000 jobs in this state and has a $6.7 billion impact.
• Ohio would lose money and jobs to bordering states such as Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky