The state Assembly Committee on Public Safety will hold its first public hearing in 30 years on a bill to raise Wisconsin's beer tax Tuesday.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, and state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, proposes to increase Wisconsin's beer tax for the first time since 1969.
The tax would amount to a 2.5-cent increase per bottle of beer.
Revenue generated by the tax increase would be used to fund drunken driving law enforcement grants, along with alcohol and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs.
""The idea right now is that you and I and everyone else paying taxes is subsidizing the cost of the problem drinker,"" Berceau said.
She added, ""My bill proposes that we add a tax on beer because that is priced at the third lowest in the nation … [and] beer is the alcohol of choice for the binge drinker.""
Gov. Jim Doyle has indicated he is against increasing the beer tax. A coalition of brewers and the Tavern League of Wisconsin have echoed this sentiment.
According to UW Health, Wisconsin has the highest rate of alcohol consumption, binge drinking and heavy drinking in the United States. Additionally, while drunken driving fatalities are dropping nationwide, the number of such fatalities is increasing in Wisconsin.
