In an irony apparently lost on the Marin Institute, their latest missive to the faithful accuses Big Alcohol of doing “anything” to protect their business. The exact headline is Big Alcohol will do anything to avoid paying for alcohol-related harm. This is related to the industry’s recent support of California Proposition 26, which is attempting to close the loophole created by the California Supreme Court that allows “fees” to be imposed under certain conditions with just a majority vote rather than the 2/3 vote required for ordinary taxes. This has led to a spate of taxes pretending to be fees being imposed throughout the state. The proposition seeks to expose those hidden taxes and subject them to the same standard as any other taxes.
As I wrote before in Trash Talking Prop 26, this proposition was not started by the alcohol industry, or even the oil or tobacco industries, but was a grassroots effort sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Taxpayers’ Association, and is supported by nearly sixty chambers of commerce and tax organizations. There is also support from trade organizations in a wide range of businesses and industries. It wasn’t until August that alcohol donations were made and that’s a significant point the Marin Institute is conveniently ignoring. It was at that time that “every company who makes alcohol, distributes alcohol and sells and serves alcohol realized they were under attack by the Marin Institute, who was pushing [San Francisco supervisor John] Avalos and supplying him him with all the resources for the test case to add a new tax to alcohol in San Francisco. That’s when most of us even became aware of Prop 26. Before that, I’d wager, hardly anyone in the alcohol industry had paid it much attention. When you’re being attacked, you tend to defend yourself.”
So at a minimum, the Marin Institute is mis-characterizing Prop 26 and at worst is using the results of its own actions to claim that the alcohol industry will go to great lengths to “avoid paying for alcohol-related harm.” But first of all, the notion of “alcohol-related harm” is something that the Marin Institute made up themselves. Alcohol companies, like any business, are simply trying to protect themselves from having to pay more taxes. This is something every company in every industry would do, in fact has to do, indeed is mandated to do by their corporate charter. Shareholders would be right to revolt if they didn’t take those steps. That the Marin Institute is using this very reasonable and understandable reaction to being attacked by the Marin Institute to paint the industry as going too far is more than a little hypocritical as it shows the lengths that they will go to in bending reality to their service. The rest of the missive also misstates what the proposition is really about, further showing how far they’ll go to further their agenda. If that’s not the pot calling the brew kettle black, I don’t know what is.
If you look at the CalBusPac – the Chamber of Commerce PAC that the money is funneling through for Prop 26 campaign – you see that the people funding the Chamber are Big Oil, Tobacco and Alcohol.
So not only are these industries funding Prop 26, they’re also hiding behind the Chamber. Shame on them.
Links to Secretary of State campaign finance links
CalBusPac Contributions received
http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1021742&session=2009&view=received
CalBusPac Late Contributions received
http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1021742&session=2009&view=late1
Thanks for the info. I appreciated it right up until the point where you say “shame on them.” Shame on them for what exactly? Is it against the law for the industry to make donations to both the proposition group and to the Chamber? Did they hide the fact of those donations? No. They’re not hiding anything. You “found” them pretty easily so I have hard time believing you when you say they were somehow “hiding behind the Chamber.” It was disclosed as necessary and the Yes on Prop 26 website similarly is transparent, with a list of all businesses and organizations that have contributed to it. What should they feel shame about? Seriously. The only reason the alcohol industry is supporting Prop 26 arose because the Marin Institute attacked them and is trying to get increased taxes in San Francisco. If successful there, they will try to do the same in other communities. Do you believe the industry doesn’t have the right to defend itself? Do you hate them so much you think the rules are different for them? Because I doubt you have a problem with the opponents of Prop 26 doing the same thing. You obviously work for an organization, Next Generation, that engages in advocacy for political campaigns in California, so its doubly insulting that you think that the alcohol industry shouldn’t be permitted to use the legal and political resources at its disposal to defend itself from threats to its business. To me that’s hypocritical, which is exactly the point I was making about how the Marin Institute is mis-characterizing the alcohol industry’s response and support of Prop 26. Shame on them? No, shame on you.
I like oil. I like tobacco. I like alcohol. Touchy feely types who want the world a soft, comfortable place for everybody — even if they don’t deserve it? Not so much.
Beer-Wine-Spirits, an industry whose product is already taxed (Fed AND State Excise taxes) coming AND going! Throw in Cali’s highest in the nation sales taxes and it should come as no ‘surprise’ that there’s some push back on any additional tax ‘assaults’.
When it comes to craft beer the Fed rate is:
$7/Bbl [brewers crafting 60KBbls!]
The Cali rate is:
$6.20Bbl ($0.20/gal)
And, that’s on PRODUCTION, before the nation’s applying the nation’s HIGHEST state sales tax for on-premise sales/consumption
… so, reducing the ‘bar’ for promulgating new taxes and ‘handing the keys’ to obviously adversarial parties fond of hyperbole and broad brush innuendo doesn’t make much sense to me from a craft brewing perspective trying to create American craft beers and jobs.
http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/
If I was (still) living in Cali I’d be voting ‘yes’ on 26 and, here’s a suggestion; vote ‘yes’ on 19 too and slap the sin taxes on pot, you idiots.
Why don’t the elected officials just make a decision & keep the mostly stupid & annoying propositions off the ballot? I despise “Government By Referendum”!
Prop 13 accelerated CA on this hideous path, & the Jarvis successors have yet to shut up! There hasn’t been a state budget passed on time since term limits went into effect – if the Repubs have more than 1/3 of the legislative seats, they can circle the wagons & defeat anything they want.
2/3 majority requirement to pass tax legislation is BULLSHIT! The real issue is that various jurisdictions found a loophole w/the word “fee”, & the anti-tax extremists are shitting in their pants.
I’m voting FOR prop 26 – let’s get some sanity back in the legislative process! The next step should be to OUTLAW lobbyists & PACs permanently at all levels!