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With a worrisome number of New Yorkers exiting the high tax state in droves for places like Florida, a NYC assemblyman has proposed a bill that would more than double the state excise tax on beer.
Perfect timing…
Manhattan Assemblyman Harvey Epstein, who we suspect has never seen a tax that he didn’t like, said the tax monies would be used to provide a boost to the state’s public colleges and universities.
The bill would “generate about $96 million annually for the state, or $51 million more than the current tax,” according to the legislator’s memo.
Epstein, a NYC Democrat who represents the city’s Lower East Side, cited analysis by the Tax Foundation which showed New York had the 12th lowest beer tax in the country, far behind the nation-leading per-gallon taxes in Tennessee ($1.29), Alaska ($1.07) and Alabama ($1.05)….
“This bill raises the beer tax to the same level of the state’s modest wine tax of $0.30 per gallon, bringing it in line with the majority of other states’ beer taxes and providing a revenue stream for the State University of New York and the City University of New York”
Thankfully the legislative reaction to the beer tax increase proposal appears to be muted at best.
Assemblyman Harvey Epstein
According to the Times Telegram, “Epstein’s bill will likely face an uphill climb garnering support in the state Legislature and from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has repeatedly touted the state’s increase in beer production, particularly among craft brewers and farm brewers.”
Governor Cuomo has been a HUGE supporter of New York State’s now 1,153 craft brewers. In 2014 he approved the Craft New York Act, which slashed rules and restrictions for craft breweries allowing them to set up tasting rooms at their facilities.
Epsteinnintroduced the bill Monday and as his district office closed for the upcoming New Year’s Day holiday on Tuesday, the beer tax increase proposal still did not have a sponsor in the Senate…
Want more on beer taxes? There’s this…
