Updated 03/17/2009 06:11 AM
Will NYS increase beer tax?
ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Twelve hundred bottles per minute, 300,000 cases a day and then some spin out on the 370 acre site in Lysander. Union leaders say that equates to thousands of jobs in jeopardy if Governor Paterson hikes the tax on beer from 11 cents a gallon to 24 cents a gallon.
"This is a no brainer. And why it remains in the budget is quite mind boggling. But again, we've been out in front of this, trying to communicate the dangers of what it means to the Baldwinsville facility," Steve Richmond, Teamsters President Local 1149, said at a press conference Monday.
The thought process is simple. If the prices go up, you won't buy as much. Workers won't produce as much, therefore, distributors won’t distribute as much and suppliers won't supply as much.
"It would have such a detriment to our local economy here and indeed the state economy and the revenues they get. Because it would make it very, very difficult for this plant to stay open," said Rep. Dan Maffei, congressman for the 25th Congressional District.
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Last November, the union agreed on a contract with the company that promised their 12 breweries nationwide would stay open. But the company says that can't happen if there's a tax hike.
Statistics show that in 1991, when then President George H.W. Bush doubled the federal excise tax on beer, the industry lost 60,000 jobs nationwide. And no one at the plant wants history to repeat itself.
"We know what happened the last time we did it. It's not speculation. If the excise tax is increased, we lose jobs in this industry in New York State. It's very simple," said Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney.
Maffei refers to the increase as an unintended consequence that won’t help. If anything, he says it's only going to make it worse.
"I have no doubt that the Governor is trying to find places where he can find revenue to put the state in a better fiscal position. But what we need to make clear to him and to other legislators, is that this will not result in a reduction of any deficit on the state level, but will in fact increase it."
Added Mahoney, "In this difficult economy right now, this is not the way to solve our problems. It makes absolutely no sense."
Local leaders aren't keeping their thoughts bottled up on this one. They say they want the governor to reevaluate the situation.