Many spirits-based ready-to-drink products have the same or lower alcohol by volume than beer and wine, but grocery and convenience stores need a special expensive license to carry the spirits-based products.   The California Senate Government Organization Committee passed a measure to correct this.   The vote came after Adam Smith, vp-state

The anti-alcohol group says raising the current alcohol excise tax could contribute $4.66 billion more in state revenue over the next 10 years while reducing youth consumption, alcohol-related violence, disease, and traffic fatalities. “We are writing out of serious concern regarding two issues confronting California: the state’s estimated

How do legislators raise taxes without raising taxes? Have a regulatory body do it. That's what's going on in Oregon where the Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission announced it "will accept written public comment on a possible increase of the current 50-cent surcharge on each bottle of distilled spirits to $ per

The Kentucky General Assembly passed and sent to the governor a bill that phases out the state's bourbon barrel tax over 20 years. The Kentucky Distillers Association applauded the passage, calling the measure a "common-sense compromise" that protects funding for "schools, fire departments and EMS districts while giving local governments

Not all of you, of course.  But certainly Lawson Whiting and other top-level bev/al execs who make more than $400,000 as well as the companies they run and all large companies.  That's according to this morning's Wall Street Journal.  You really should read this article, especially if you

The proposal by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is on top of a temporary 50-cents-a-bottle surcharge recently extended by the Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission. The proposed new tax would, the governor says, fund addiction and recovery services. While conceding the proposal is "well intentioned," the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.