The Cost of Getting Drunk

By: Bill BeerSlugger

There is apparently a Bill floating around in congress that will increase taxes on Beer, Wine and Liquor.  Supposedly the tax will increase 48 cents a six-pack, 49 cents per bottle of wine and hard liquor would see an increase of 40 cents per fifth.

This is all being proposed to pay for expaning health coverage for 50 million uninsured Americans.  The cost of this would be in the neighborhood of 1.5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, all of which could never be paid with just an increase in beer and liquor tax.

The proposed tax increases are on lifestyle choices that contribute to rising medical costs and has been seen elsewhere in cigarette tax increases.  The “Sin Tax” as my grandmother called it.  There may also be new taxes levyed on Soda and other sugary drinks as they are linked to obesity. Though no new taxes are proposed for diet drinks because Aspartame and other Artificial Sweeteners never caused cancer in lab rats or anything, right?

I get it that you want to tax unhealthy behaviors.  Tobacco and Alcohol can cause health problems and thus can cause insurance rates to rise etc. There are other factors that Alcohol brings to the table like Drinking & Driving Accidents/Deaths.  One study I read cited that an increase in the alcohol tax would curb college binge drinking and trips to the emergency room for Alcohol poisoning and alcohol related injuries.  The main reason being higher alcohol prices and the same budget would mean less alcohol to go around.  I get that a little bit as well.

What I don’t get is why they have to tax Alcohol to pay for the uninsured.  Why not tax alcohol and put it towards lowering premiums for the insured who are already paying a portion of their health care premium to care for the uninsured.

On top of the Alcohol and Soda tax, lawmakers are also proposing a tax on healthcare which is provided by employers. Currently about 164 million people get their insurance through work and the money spent on insurance premiums is deducted from their taxable income.

So not only is a portion of my insurance premium already going to pay for the uninsured, they are also going to tax the money I pay for the insurance premium and increase taxes on the beer I drink to forget about how high my fucking taxes are, to pay for the uninsured.

Not to get into the politics of the Health Care, but yes I want certain groups in America to have access to health care.  At the very least I believe every child until the day they graduate high school should have free health care provided they don’t drop out.  And yes people with disabilities absolutely should have their health care covered, within reason.

However, the cost of getting these 50 some million uninsured Americans falls on the people who have done things right.   The situation is akin to having your dog shit on the carpet and then telling him “Good Boy” and giving him a treat.  For whatever reason, these 50 million people don’t have health insurance, I bet a good portion of them have the money coming in to pay for insurance but  choose to spend it on other things like booze, cigarettes and lottery tickets to name a few.

There are obviously family’s that are trying to do the right thing but just can’t make ends meet.  I feel for them, I really do and I’m sure there’s ways we can help them.  I just don’t think that giving everyone healthcare at the expense of the already overburdened middle class is the way to do it and certainly not by increasing the cost of a case of beer by $2.

I could be wrong though….