Hopping Mad: NYC Lawmakers Want To Double State Beer Tax

Whoever is thinking about this should stop for a moment and ponder it over a beer.

Stop the madness! Or maybe I should say Hop the madness? Either way, NYUP is reporting some New York City legislators are sponsoring a bill that would double the New York beer tax. Lawmakers want to use the extra funds for SUNY and the City University of New York (CUNY). I need a beer just writing about another tax.

As it stands, our beer tax is 14 cents a gallon. Brooklyn Assembly member Harvey Epstein is is proposing raising that to 30 cents a gallon. This is the excise tax paid by beer distributors. So you would not be taxed directly on the sale of beer, but you will surely absorb this cost as distributors will most likely offset their expenses by raising the price of beer.

The saddest part about all of this is NYUP says our current beer tax is actually very low compared to the rest of the nation. Yes, we actually have a New York tax that is way less than the national average! Insanity I tell you!

Do we really need another tax? Can't we just have one thing where we pay less than everyone? God knows New Yorkers get hit in the wallet in so many other areas! Hopefully this proposal falls flat like those floaters sitting around your house the morning after a party.