If you think your income taxes or your property are too high consider for a moment the tax burden on the average American when he or she purchases a bottle of spirits. On average combined federal and state excise taxes alone (not counting sales and other taxes that apply) account for 26 percent of the price of a bottle of spirits. For a bottle of wine that number is 8 percent and for a six pack of beer it’s 9 percent.
While lawmakers are generally hesitant to raise income, property or sales taxes they are less so when it comes to spirits. In any given year excise tax increases are introduced in two to three dozen states. And they are introduced in states that are running budget surpluses, in other words, states that don’t need the money. In fact, since 1980 excise taxes at the state level have been raised a whopping 99 times.
Many states’ legislatures will be reconvening next month and lawmakers will begin grappling with state budget issues. If the past is any blueprint for the future we can expect dozens of proposals that will increase taxes on beer, wine and spirits. We will continue to fight these proposals and hold the line on what already amounts to excessive taxation on the distilled spirits industry and our consumers.
With the holiday season in full swing I’m sure that if you’re like me, your schedule is already booked with numerous invitations to holiday parties given by your company, business associates, friends and family. Dust off that TiVo receiver because the days of wiling away an evening in front of the TV set with a bowl of popcorn are over! Who has the time to be a couch potato when there’s shopping to be done (for those of us who don’t get it done months in advance), schedules to juggle and parties, parties, parties!
With all the festivities comes tons of food, tons of carbs and tons of calories. If you don’t want to forgo your Aunt Mabel’s famous fruitcake, try this – Zero Carb cocktails!
Just pair Crown Royal® Whiskey, Johnnie Walker® Scotch Whiskey, Jose Cuervo® Tequila, Smirnoff® Vodka or Tanqueray® Gin with your favorite diet soda or a splash of water or tonic and you’ll have a beverage that tastes great with zero carbs per serving.
So when you’re watching what you eat at one of this season’s holiday parties, watch what you drink too. Here are a few suggestions for low carb cocktails made with 1½ ounces of premium spirits…Â
Smirnoff Martini
Tanqueray and diet tonic
Crown Royal and soda
Johnny Walker and diet ginger ale
Cuervo and diet coke or diet ginger ale
Food, nonalcoholic beverages, drugs, and even dietary supplements all provide basic consumer facts about the product on the label. Alcohol beverages are the only major category of consumable product that is forbidden by the government from disclosing this kind of helpful information. I believe it is time for the government to allow those beverage alcohol companies that want to modernize their product labels to do so without any more hesitation. Public interests are served when consumers get more information of this nature:
Recent studies show consumers are in favor of more information on beverage alcohol labels:
74% of drinkers read nutritional information on packaged food at least some of the time.
66% claim nutritional information has at least some impact on what they decide to purchase.
A significant 67.5% majority believe that nutritional information should be provided on alcohol beverage packages
There is nothing misleading or deceptive about disclosing the amount of alcohol a serving of beverage alcohol contains. In fact, nothing can be more important than placing the amount of alcohol per serving on the very product containers that the consumer will hold and examine, purchase and consume. That is why two former Secretaries of Health and Human Services (Joseph Califano and Luis Sullivan) and two former Surgeons General (Julius Richmond and David Satcher) have called for voluntary industry labeling.
Label modernization has been under review by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau at the U.S. Department of Treasury for nearly three years. Over one hundred health, consumer, law enforcement, education and governmental entities support providing this type of information on alcohol labels. These include the American Dietetic Association, Shape Up America, the National Consumers League, the American Medical Association, the National Taxpayers Union and the Federal Trade Commission.
The time for action is long overdue.
