Barth: There wasn’t a sin tax I didn’t love
It is just another SIN tax that affects the poor, working poor and lower middle class. Say what you will about taxing alcohol, which is not a bad thing, I just find the argument that we are somehow punishing the liquor companies by increasing this tax to be silly:
Every day, more booze-related (or booze-caused) costs pile up. Who pays for the ambulance, the helicopter, the squad car, the medical care, the funerals? Certainly not the alcohol industry.
So what is Minnehaha county commissioner Barth’s solution? Tax us more to buy it;
An additional 10 percent sales tax on alcohol is not too heavy a burden. An $8 six-pack of beer would be $8.80. I’d still buy it.
I have a better solution. Stiffer penalties to people who sell underage, stiffer penalties to DUI offenders, and actually force people to pay restitution, or work off that restitution in a work release program while living in jail. Taxing RESPONSIBLE drinkers to pay for the crimes of IRRESPONSIBLE drinkers is idiotic. If someone commits a crime while intoxicated, they should pay for the consequences. Not the average Joe who drinks a tomato beer every once in a while.