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If Michigan lawmakers want to stifle the state’s craft brewers, they’ve found just the way.
Rep. Tom Hooker, R-Byron Center, introduced House Bill 5873 this month to increase Michigan’s beer tax from $6.30 to $21.70 per barrel, a nearly 250 percent hike. Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, weighed in on the debate in a recent Mlive article.
It will harm businesses including the many craft brewers in Michigan that have opened in recent years. Michigan is one of the leaders in craft breweries, and here we are hamstringing organizations that might actually be destinations of travel.
He added that the tax could decrease consumption or drive people to consume other types of alcoholic beverages.
Read the full article from Mlive here.
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