Further Beer Tax Stats

Following my post earlier this week on nationwide beer taxes, the Oregon Brewers Guild's Brian Butenschoen sent me a few more interesting factoids. I decided to wait a bit before posting them, because I figure I get no more than two or three beer tax posts a week before I drive you all away. Okay, ready?

• Per capita consumption of spirits is up 33% over the last 10 years; over the same period, beer consumption ticked up just 2.8%--and beer consumption has fallen over the last five.
• Of the top 10 craft breweries in the U.S. in 2007, all got their start in states with low excise taxes. The average tax rate when they started was $2.33.
• Between 2004 and 2008, the impact of local breweries on the economy grew substantially. The percentage of Oregon-made beer consumed in Oregon grew from 9.9% to 12% and the number of jobs grew from 2,950 to 5,200.
• From 2004-2008 for every 1,000 barrels Oregon brewed beer that was consumed in Oregon more than 30 jobs were created.

In the body of the email, Brian rather tartly posed a question I hope he asks of the legislature on Monday: if we have a problem with alchohol, why are we considering raising the tax on the only segment in which consumption is declining? Particularly given that within that segment, local beer is steadily supplanting national brands as the the choice for consumers, creating jobs and boosting the economy?

Well?

[Update. Via email, I was alerted to this post. Good to see that Madison, WI, my old grad-school haunt, now has a vibrant beer-blogging community. See also Madison Beer Review for interesting content. I'll have to update the blogroll.]