This is my first letter to the editor.
The state ought to hoist a cold one
Home News Tribune Online 04/27/07
Concerning our state budget deficit and the never-ending search for new sources of revenue, why is one category never explored? That is the tax collected from the sale of beer. Presently it amounted to 15 cents per six pack. It was last raised in 1992. Why is it we rank No. in projected per capita budget deficit but near the bottom regarding beer tax?
New Jersey is No. 7 from the top in major breweries. It has one of the highest per capita beer consumption rates. No one in Trenton ever mentions raising the tax. Is it cast in stone? Local jurisdictions don't have the authority to levy a local tax. It seems the breweries have covered all their bases. It takes 20-some six packs to get the same revenue from one pack of cigarettes.
All Jerseyans ever hear is property tax, income tax, sales tax increases, etc., etc. But no one even knows what the tax on beer is.
The money collected from beer sales is earmarked for three purposes: education, rehabilitation and enforcement. Are we to believe they are adequately funded? Evidently our lawmakers do.
The benefits of a large increase in the beer tax would be enormous. What are we waiting for? Does anyone know? Or does everyone know?
Howie Stoltenberg
EDISON
