Say ‘No, thanks’ to beverage petition

Working in the fields of public health and public safety, a lot of our work involves assuring people have the right information to make healthy and safe choices. As such, we felt the need to point out some of the incorrect information in the so-called “People’s veto” effort to overturn the new beverage taxes that were passed to maintain health coverage for many of Maine’s children, families and small businesses.

We are especially concerned about the misinformation regarding the alcohol tax increases.

Why, you might ask, are we interested in increasing alcohol taxes, especially if we are receiving none of the funds?

In the last few years, no less than five major national research studies have called for increasing alcohol taxes as one of the key tools to reduce underage and problem drinking, including a Call to Action from the Office of the Surgeon General.

We know now that raising the price of alcohol is a protective factor in reducing underage drinking. Teens are price-sensitive and will drink less when the price goes up. Increasing the price of alcohol has also been shown to decrease high risk drinking, and drinking and driving among all ages.

Groups behind the beverage petition have deep pockets and the support of big national companies, especially the alcohol industry. They are spending many hundreds of thousands of dollars on this campaign to overturn these minimal new taxes. They have hired an out-of-state signature gathering firm, and we have probably all seen by now the expensive, four-color professionally produced wine bottle tags in our stores and beer coasters in restaurants and bars urging people to sign the petition.

However, neither the new alcohol tax increases, nor the current alcohol tax in Maine, are as high as they would have you believe. Yes, it does double the current excise tax, but that tax is mere pennies and hasn’t gone up in nearly 30 years. The new taxes amount to 3 cents per can of beer and 7 cents on a bottle of wine. So, you’ll be paying a total about 6 cents for a beer, and 4 cents for a glass of wine. Even with this tax increase, beer is actually cheaper now (adjusted for inflation) than it was 30 years ago.

In Maine, as in the nation, the heaviest 5 percent of drinkers consume over a third of all alcohol, with 45 percent of Mainers basically being non-drinkers. The average drinker would see an increase of less than $20 per year.

To say that “The new taxes on beverageswere rushed through during the final days of the session without public hearing or input,” as was stated last week in a Sun Journal guest column by Paul Spellman, CEO of Federal Distributors, is also disingenuous at best.

In this last session, there were hearings before the Committee on Taxation regarding legislation to raise alcohol taxes. The major distributors, brewers, vintners, interested state associations, and out-of-state lobbyists all came to testify. The legislation was carried over to the second session. So, for most of the 123rd legislative session, the debate about alcohol taxes was alive in Augusta.

Make no mistake: Maine isn’t the first state to see an aggressive campaign by the alcohol industry in response to a tax increase. The reality is that this is a lot less about Maine people and taxes than it is about the alcohol industry protecting its bottom line. These aggressive campaigns are playing out across the nation as states are eyeing alcohol taxes as a means to address the public health and safety problems associated with alcohol abuse.

The dozens of individuals and agencies that came forward with us to testify on behalf of the increase, and the hundreds that signed resolutions in support of alcohol taxes, did so out of an understanding that we are all paying for the cost of alcohol abuse. And that cost is getting higher every year.

The fact that Maine continues to rank high in both underage drinking and youth binge-drinking came home with tragic consequences last winter with drinking deaths of two young men in Auburn and Portland.

Knowing what we do now, we urge you all to say “No, thanks,” to signing this petition because we know that a few extra pennies on beer, wine and soda is a reasonable price to pay to help Maine kids, families and small businesses keep their health insurance…and improve the health of our young people and the safety of our communities by reducing underage and problem drinking.

Wayne Gallant is sheriff of Oxford County. Malory Shaughnessy is statewide coordinator of the Maine Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse.