Posted on 05/22/2009 6:48:44 AM PDT by yankeedame
WASHINGTON -- Drunk on power and dazed by ambition, members of Congress have stumbled upon a novel way to keep their spending binge rolling -- and leave American taxpayers with the hangover.
Under a Senate proposal, Congress would raise the federal excise tax on beer by 145 percent to more than $3 a case.
Uncle Sam also would snatch an additional $7 on a case of wine -- a staggering increase of 233 percent and an additional 20 percent on hard liquor sales.
"Buzz-kill doesn't even begin to describe this invasion," said a GOP congressional aide....
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) were quick to say they do not necessarily support the proposals they pitched. They were tossing them out there only as options for paying for President Obama's proposed massive government takeover of the health- care industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Why wait? If done right, home brew could cost as little as 50 cents a 12-ounce bottle. Yes, there is the initial expense of the equipment, but you can get a Mr. Beer kit for under $45 if you wanted to try your hand at it.
HA! Between raising the beer tax and 'cap and trade', no one will be able to afford to get lit.
Tar and feathers would not be far behind.
The longer you brew your own beer, the more expensive it becomes, especially when you start getting into pressurized carbonation beer on tap systems, and of course building the bar in your basement to go with it.
All the excuse needed to expand the BATFE...
at some point The One will make the mistake of picking on a corporate entity that proves to be his match. The combination of Coca-Cola/Pepsico/AnheuserBusch/CoorsMiller looks like a likely prospect.
Oh I’ve tried my hand at it for many years. I have beer making equipment piled up in the corner of my basement collecting dust. I have a 4 tap draft cooler system that allows me to sample 4 different brew styles.
I gave it up for a while. It became too time consuming and belly enlarging.
Every serious brewer will eventually get a tap system because you get sick of washing and capping bottles, plus it eliminates the yeast from the bottom of the bottle from naturally carbonating your bottled home brew.
Then your washing out tap lines and canisters, so it never ends, it just gets more complicated.
And you (us) homebrewers thought the hop shortage was a pita!
But then the hop shortage was mostly caused by gubmint too (the ethanol thing).
Just one more way to kill business. Wine growers and producers (vineyards) are big business in this country. California wines are one of our exports to the world. Nothing these people do makes sense.
B.S.
Ethanol has nothing to do with hop growing.
The hop shortage was caused by bad growing seasons in the UK and US.
“Ethanol has nothing to do with hop growing.”
******************
BS!
By all means, explain how ethanol production has anything to do with hops.
u r dismissed—take yer meds and disappear....
They NEED revenue! Massive quantities of REVENUE!
DOn't say smokers didn't tell you so.
It will happen.
"A global shortage of hops, combined with a run-up in barley prices, is sending a chill through Arizona's craft-beer industry.
Brewers are dealing with a 10 to 15 percent shortfall in the worldwide supply of hops, largely caused by farmers cutting back on the cropyields diminished by rain and drought.
Papazian attributed the barley prices to ethanol subsidies that have raised the price of corn, the main ingredient in the alternative fuel. As a result, farmers have switched to barley for livestock feed, which has pushed up prices.
The hops situation is more complex. Years of overproduction and low prices led farmers to replace hops fields with more profitable crops. Add to that corn subsidies that have caused farmers to replace hops fields with corn, a drought in Australia that affected yields and heavy rains in Europe that ruined much of this year's crop.
I took mine. Perhaps you should take yours.
But then, if every single acre of agricultural land was converted into growing Ethanol, it would still only provide us with less than 30% of our demand for fuel.
Not to mention that it takes 1 gallon of fossil fuel to make and produce 1.2 gallons of Ethanol; Which yields a massive .2 gallon increase to the market. And in the interim, we starve, or learn how to eat dirt.
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