Locke, Crew Join To Cut Tax On Brew

All you blue-collar guys and gals out there might want to hoist a few to the Legislature and governor.

Among their accomplishments of the 1997 session: They cut the beer tax to save you nearly a half-penny for every 12-ounce bottle of beer you buy.

Sin taxes, as they’re called in the capital city, rarely get cut, even by the tax-cutting Republicans who run the Legislature. But this year they made an exception after several lawmakers spoke eloquently about helping cut costs for those hard-working, “blue-collar” folk, the ones who drink beer.

A few lawmakers thought it was a foolish reduction, doing virtually nothing for beer drinkers while costing the state general fund plenty.

One of them, Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, a septic system designer and blue-collar guy himself, said, “It was just one more tax cut for special interests, in this case the beer industry. It doesn’t help working families at all.”

The industry lobbied hard for the reduction, saying it might not seem like much but would make a difference in a competitive business with extremely marginal profits.

Locke signed the tax cut this week in one of his final bill actions.

The Democrat signed a measure eliminating a $1.48 tax increase on a barrel of beer scheduled to take effect July 1. The reduction is worth less than a half-cent per 12-ounce bottle and about 2.5 cents on a six pack of beer.

The reduction will cost the state general fund about $4.5 million a year. With the cut, the per-barrel tax will be $8.08.

The $4.5 million annual cost will be to the general fund, which pays for day-to-day government, including public education.

It will not reduce those portions of the tax that go for subsidized health insurance for the working poor and for violence reduction and drug enforcement.<