Getting drunk in New York could get more expensive.
The Health Department is mulling a new tax increase on alcohol – which supporters say would make New Yorkers drink less and get healthier.
“It’s one of the things on the menu,” said Executive Deputy Commissioner Adam Karpati, who oversees the Health Department’s alcohol policy.
And it could put a big siphon on a party budget.
Under one scenario, a bottle of Bud would skyrocket as much as 10 cents – taking the fun out of happy hour.
That plan would bump the total tax on a beer to more than 17 cents, a steep fee on a $2 longneck, while a bottle of Cabernet would climb up to nearly 50 cents.
Booze-imbibers are already pumping big tax bucks into city, state and federal coffers.
New Yorkers pony up 7.4 cents of taxes on a bottle of beer, 36.9 cents on a bottle of wine and $3.61 on a standard 750-ml bottle of hard liquor.
The state raked in $206 million off alcohol last year – and that was before Gov. Paterson increased wine and beer taxes to help balance the state budget.
The city taxes only beer and liquor, not wine, raising $23.5 million.
Mayor Bloomberg hasn’t weighed in on the idea. But he is a big fan of raising taxes on cigarettes and sugary sodas to improve health – so higher booze taxes would fit right in.
The city counted 1,700 alcohol-related deaths in 2008, and wants to reduce high school drinking by 16% and booze-fueled hospitalizations 19% by 2012.
(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/)
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3 Responses
L’chaim!
lets call a spade a spade. they just want to increase the state’s profits through raising the tax on alcohol its not because they care about the health effects and deaths that comes through alcohol.
Aside from the fact that wine is used for religious purposes, wine (especially red wine) is widely recommended by doctors for its health benefits to the heart which include raising HDL (the good cholesterol) levels in the blood.
Beer is one thing, but wine should NOT be taxed!