Beer taxes
During the course of my day job, I see a lot of statistics, most of them sleep-inducing. But today I ran across a compilation of beer taxes by state put together by the Tax Foundation I thought you might find interesting.
(These statistics are given with the caveat that some states only sell certain kinds of alcohol in state-run stores, so an apples-to-apples calculation of taxes in those states is difficult.)
And the award for the highest beer tax goes to: Alaska, with a tax of $1.07 per gallon of beer. The lowest? Wyoming, with a per-gallon beer tax of just two cents.
So how do we here in the Washington, D.C. metro area stack up? Maryland and DC were close to the bottom, tied for #44 and #45 at nine cents per gallon. And Virginia held spot #19, with a tax of $.26 per gallon. (Take heart, Virginia dwellers, things could be worse: Virginia’s tax on spirits is $20.13 per gallon.) Looks like there was an attempt last year in Maryland to raise alcohol taxes: more here.
When it comes to spirits, Washington state took the #1 spot at $26.45 per gallon, with Vermont the least at $.68 per gallon. How about wine? Pennsylvania is highest at $2.50 per gallon, and Louisiana is lowest at $.11 per gallon.
Generally speaking, these kinds of vice taxes are gravy for state legislators, who use the revenue to shore up their budgets.
(The table from Tax Foundation can be found here.)