The state Legislature dropped a $0.50 per liter liquor tax increase from a bill that boosts drunken driving penalties Thursday. The tax was originally proposed to fund part of the bill.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated the bill would have cost between $36 and $70 million, according to Carrie Lynch, spokesperson for Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Schofield.
Lynch explained this figure decreased significantly after the Department of Corrections reduced its cost estimate.
The cost reduction was a result of more stringent ignition interlock device measures. The new law requires first-time offenders with a blood alcohol content of .15 or over to use the device, which makes the user take a Breathalyzer test before being able to start the car.
""We're trying to get to the problem [of drunken driving] earlier instead of waiting until people are a fourth offender and then locking them up in prison,"" Lynch said. With fewer prisoners, the estimated costs decreased substantially.
Pete Madland, spokesperson of the Tavern League of Wisconsin, supports dropping the tax for other reasons.
""Any time you raise taxes, it's going to hurt businesses and cost jobs,"" Madland said. ""With our economic conditions the way they are in the state, this is not the time to be raising taxes.""
The legislative session ends next week, increasing pressure to pass the bill.
State Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa, and state Rep. Tony Staskunas, D-West Allis, the bill's sponsors, removed the tax in order to facilitate compromise between the state Senate and the state House of Representatives.
