Gov. Martin O?Malley has joined the legislative chorus for doubling the $1 tax on cigarettes ? a tax that has jumped 600 percent after four increases since 1991. But barely a peep is mentioned about the taxes on alcohol, which are some of the lowest in the nation and haven?t been raised in more than 35 years.
“To me, it is puzzling, it is mystifying,” said Del. Bill Bronrott, lead sponsor of a bill to double the taxes and dedicating the $28 million it would raise for addiction and treatment services. Bronrott, D-Montgomery, estimates the increase would add 2 cents to the price of a drink.
In the case of distilled spirits such as whiskey and vodka, Maryland and the District of Columbia have the lowest taxes in the nation ? $1.50 per gallon ? last raised when “President Eisenhower was in his first term,” Bronrott said.
Several weeks ago at an event toasting Maryland wineries, The Examiner asked O?Malley whether he knew the state?s wine tax was among the lowest in the nation ? 40 cents per gallon. “That sounds about right,” said O?Malley, who indicated he wasn?t aware of how low the tax was.
The beer and wine taxes haven?t been raised since 1972.
A poll by OpinionWorks of Annapolis last year found two-thirds of Maryland voters support increasing the alcohol tax to pay for more treatment, much as they overwhelmingly support increasing the cigarette tax.
Joseph Schwartz, representing the Licensed Beverage Association, said there are three levels of taxation on alcohol: Federal, state and the sales tax. Even if you double it, “you don?t raise that much money,” said Schwartz, plus it would hurt an industry in which sales have been flat and which is “not the healthiest”
Join the discussion and take our poll in today’s examiNation Baltimore: What do you think about raising “sin taxes” in Maryland?
