What’s Tom Hooker Drinking?

Lawmaker’s Proposal to More than Triple Michigan’s Beer Tax Would Devastate Beer City, USA 

Beer_tax_hike-.pngLANSING, MI, September 14, 2016 – Michigan Freedom Fund Executive Director Tony Daunt today issued the following response to Republican state Representative Tom Hooker’s new bill to more than triple the state’s beer tax: 

“What’s Tom Hooker drinking? Hooker’s bill is bad for the state’s craft brewing industry, bad for Michigan residents, and devastating for his home district. The last thing Michigan needs is another lawmaker drunk on tax hikes and government spending. Let’s hope Lansing puts this terrible bill on ice.” 

Hooker, a Grand Rapids-area lawmaker, on Wednesday was scheduled to unveil a massive new state tax on beer, raising the government’s tax rate from $6.30 per barrel to $21.70 – more than tripling the current tax, overnight. Hooker’s tax hike equates to an extra 5 cents per can of beer. 

Grand Rapids has been named Beer City, USA in national polls, and named Best Beer Town and Best Beer Scene by USA Today readers. The City recently launched a massive public relations and tourism campaign promoting the local craft brewing scene, unveiling the Our Beer City Ale Trail, highlighting more than 40 local breweries. According to Experience Grand Rapids, the City “has more craft beer per square mile than almost anywhere else on earth.” 

 

###