Measure also earmarks all alcohol tax revenue to new substance abuse account
JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, December 6, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - A bill to increase the tax on beer to pay for mental health and substance abuse is in the legislative hopper.
The proposal would hike the tax on beer by 4.5 cents per gallon and earmark all taxes on alcoholic beverages to a new state substance abuse account.
Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson - co-chairman of the Select Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, which is sponsoring the bill - said the largest piece of revenue would be from the alcohol sale profits through the state liquor division.
The bill does not raise taxes on distilled spirits or wine. Wyoming levies taxes the equivalent of 28 cents per gallon on wine, 24 cents per gallon on spirits and 2 cents per gallon on beer.
The measure would raise $14.5 million a year, including the increase in the beer tax, for the new substance abuse account.
Gingery said the committee is working on a major change in the mental health delivery system in the state, which is costly.
He said he intends to try to earmark the new account for prevention to make it more acceptable to the Legislature.
"I think people are going to be real leery about a beer tax," Gingery said.
Because it is a non-budget bill, it will require a two-thirds majority vote to be considered by the House or Senate in the budget session that opens Feb. 11.
The committee has been working for three years on a regional system to deliver mental health services. The goal is to have each of five regions in the state provide such things as acute care and access to a crisis center and a women's and children's center.
Last year the southeast region got money, so the committee decided to fully complete the regionalization this year.
The committee has a separate bill calling for an appropriation of $18 million to complete the regional system, he said.
The idea is to provide mental health services to people close to home so they don't have to be transported to the State Hospital at Evanston.
On the substance abuse side, by June 2008 the state will have 200 beds, an increase from 90 beds, for residential treatment.
The Wyoming Liquor Association is opposing the bill, said Mike Moser, a lobbyist for the association.
"Our premise is that raising taxes on liquor are not needed and are regressive, and it's not the right solution,"Moser said Wednesday.
"You're charging people for a problem that's not theirs," he said. "Consumers of alcohol are not the same thing as problem drinkers."
He said this would be like taxing Twinkies to pay for obesity or taxing cars to pay for car accidents.
"This is about substance abuse. So I go and have a Coors Light, and I'm paying for somebody with a meth problem," Moser said.
Beer taxes already are particularly regressive because the tax is on volume, not price, he added. The tax is the same on a $4 six-pack as on a $12 six-pack.
He said the beer tax now raises only $270,000 per year.
Responsible users of a product should not be forced to pay or subsidize irresponsible users of every substance in Wyoming, Moser said.
"It's not like the state is real short of money," he added. "If they need the money, go find it."
Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@trib.com.