Americans recovering from Wednesday’s National Wine Day will be infuriated to find out that almost a third of what they doled out for a bottle of wine goes to the government.
That’s according to Americans for Tax reform (ATR), which calculated that taxes, on average, make up 32 percent of the price bottle of wine.
“Alcoholic beverages are popular targets for revenue-hungry lawmakers who impose ‘sin’ taxes and other punitive costs on products and industries,” ATR said via email.
“As such, most of these goods are subject to specific and discriminatory excise taxes but the tax ‘bite’ also includes the cost of sales taxes, corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, workers’ compensation taxes, and other payments businesses must make to federal, state and local governments, the costs of which are ultimately passed onto taxpayers.”
All in all, the wine tax is a hefty 32 percent, an average bite of $6.20 per bottle.
On #NationalWineDay, Americans should remember that 32% of the cost of wine is taxes pic.twitter.com/kRDjVS4Gwr
— ATR (@taxreformer) May 25, 2016
“Prohibition officially ended in 1933. But the nanny state has continued a low-intensity war against wine and spirits through taxes and regulations,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.
“Like the legendary Japanese soldier still hiding in the hills in the 1960s, these guys need to go home and end the war.”
Taxes targeted specifically at alcohol are widely acknowledged to hit the poor hardest. This is because poorer Americans spend a greater share of their disposable income on alcohol compared to the rich — unless they change their behavior, will have to pay an even greater amount to the government.
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