CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The price of beer has a good chance of increasing this year if West Virginia lawmakers can get a proposed tax hike to Gov. Joe Manchin's desk.
Manchin won't veto a higher tax on suds, spokesman Matt Turner said Monday, but getting lawmakers to raise the price of such a popular product during an election year could be a challenge for the bill's supporters.
Delegate Bill Hamilton introduced legislation Monday that he says is one of several planned attempts to fund substance abuse treatment and prevention by raising taxes on alcohol.
Monday's bill is the pricier of two the Upshur County Republican has proposed so far. Both would raise the beer tax, which has remained at $5.50 per barrel since 1966.
The latest bill would increase that to $22, or by four cents per bottle or can. The other beer tax bill, reintroduced Feb. 1 from last year's session, would...]]>
Louisos joins effort to raise tax on beer: Money would finance drug treatment program [The ...
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:36:00 +0000
Feb. 8--CHARLESTON -- Delegate Tom Louisos never met a tax he liked -- until now.
Abandoning his long-held resistance to any form of tax increase, Louisos has joined a bi-partisan effort to raise the tax on beer as a means of generating money to finance a drug treatment program.
"We have a problem in West Virginia," Louisos, D-Fayette, said Monday, as the bill was offered in the House of Delegates.
"I'm really not for any increase in taxes. What we have is a drug problem in West Virginia. We need a way to try to rehabilitate these people, so that they can come into society and not be the problems they have been in the past."
The issue arose last week when Delegate Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, delivered an impassioned plea, recalling how his own son became addicted to drugs, but after a three-year struggle, is now on the mend.
Hamilton is calling for a...]]>
JO WOOD FEARED RONNIE WOULD DIE
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:01:00 +0000
Feb 08, 2010 (WENN via COMTEX) -- RONNIE WOOD's ex-wife JO has long been tormented by the ROLLING STONES star's alcohol addiction - she spent years fearing her partner would "drop dead because of his drinking."
The musician divorced his wife of 23 years in 2009 after he left her for young Russian waitress Ekaterina Ivanova.
But despite their break-up, Jo admits she still cares deeply for her ex-husband and hopes his reported admission to rehab last month (Jan10) will help him kick booze for good.
She says, "I was constantly worried he'd drop dead because of his drinking, and I never knew when he was going to go mad because there was no alcohol in the house. I was very protective and I didn't want anyone to see the seriousness of his addiction. It was stressful.
"For him to become sober he needs to go into rehab. I don't think he's strong enough...]]>
