Republican Delegate Bill Hamilton introduced legislation today that would raise taxes on alcohol to fund substance abuse treatment and prevention.
“We will be looking at wine and liquor, but you can’t put them all in the same bill because they’re different parts of the state code,” Hamilton said.
The latest bill would increase taxes by four cents per bottle or can. The other beer tax bill, reintroduced Feb. 1 from last year’s session, would add a penny to the price of each bottle.
Filed under:
Taxes, West Virginia Legislature
And this guy calls himself a Republican?
Taxing alcoholics won’t prevent them from drinking.
Bill Hamilton needs to go. His Democrat buddies may try to save him but the unions will be too busy in other races to care about their Republican whipping boy Bill. Too bad, so sad!
RINO Bill must go.
Mike Huckabee would be applauding this bill. Gotta love the irony taking place with this bill. Stupid NeoCons.
To the ones above who oppose this bill, I agree with you. I do however, would like your opinion on all these(& propsed state wide)smoking bans. I know several Republicans, who I otherwise respect, have no problem taking away the rights of the OWNER(I’m not concerned with the smokers rights its his choice & it is not protected by the Constitution)to decide what goes on in his establishment. I do not smoke, but it is a legal product. If I own a restaurant & I let people smoke in it, you have the right not to go there. You also have the right to tell me your not coming there for that reason, even organize a boycott. It is not, however up to the government to regulate that.
GOD BLESS
Buddy,
Stay on point. RINO Hamilton has to go. Anyone running against him?
Hamilton does have two primary challengers
Tom O’Neill
Legal Name: Thomas Joseph O’Neill Republican Upshur
District/Circuit 39
Great Candidate to replace Hamilton
Jerry Reynolds
Legal Name: Jerry A. Reynolds Sr. Republican Upshur
District/Circuit 39 Buckhannon,
Strong Conservative and tireless supporter of the Upshur Co. Republican Party. Best choice for 39 th
All,
Thanks for the kind comments. I’m excited about running a very active campaign that will uphold the the values I stand for (like pro-job tax cuts, not tax hikes), which also happen to be those which are shared by Upshur County Republicans and those conservative Independents who will be voting in our primary.
There will be plenty of time to talk issues over the next three months, but for now let me just say that I am really grateful that there is a site like this for West Virginia Republicans to have a voice in policy and politics. Great job!
Tom O’Neill would be a great delegate for the people of West Virginia.
Bill Hamilton will easily win re-election. He is considered a moderate, which is where most of the state, country, and county of Upshur find themselves. In my opinion, the only time you elect someone to the far left or far right is when there is backlash against the party/person in office who appears to be too radical one way or the other. Bill Hamilton is neither too far left or right. Don’t know a thing about the other candidates running against him and certainly cannot and will not criticize them. But Bill Hamilton has been a small business owner in Upshur for years, has been responsive to his constituents, and appears to largely support laws that help his consituents, as well as all West Virginians. Anyone running a campaign based on the same old mantra of “Reduce taxes, reduce taxes” will likely find themselves on the losing end.
No one can argue that reducing the problems of alcohol abuse is a worthwile goal. What needs to be discussed is who takes the lead and how are the goals to be reached.
Creating new government programs, or a centralized bureau, presents us with the potential of new “constituencies”; alcohol control activists, if you will. Will the state provide grants to non-profits to run media campaigns to combat the the legal marketing by the alcohol industry? How will the State decide what agenda these non-profits adhere to? Seemingly through another layer of bureaucracy. Leading to increased lobbying efforts by industry groups as well as alcohol control interests.
As we know, there are no taxes on business, just increased costs passed along to responsible consumers.
This is bad public policy. I do not mean for this to be an in-depth analysis, but rather a first blush look. The potential for allowing discretionary dollars to be given to non-profits with particular political agendas, as well as creating an environment for creating new constituents (and the associated lobbying that will occur) needs to be a part of the debate. Non-productive (non-wealth producing) activities should be left behind in favor of policies that promote entreprenurial opportunities and ones that forward the idea of personal responsibility.
(posted via moblie-excuse the brevity, just wanted to add my 2 cents)
The Old mantra of “reduce taxes” versus the New mantra of “raise taxes”?
OK…well, that explains everything then. What kinda nutso arguement is that? How about we do this? Have this guy’s idea put up for a referendum, then we can see what Mantra is reasonating with the folks in WV.
I don’t want the New and Improved Mantra ! Give me back more of my taxes. Mr/Ms Conservative Dem, feel free to give extra if you like!!
Jim, I agree with what you said, to me this tax is a waste of money. anytime you get the government involved its a mess.
To conservative Dem, First let me say I have no dog in this fight for the 39th district. I do however disagree with your political analysis. I feel the people of WV including the 39th district want someone that will look out for them & that takes a stand. I also feel they are a majority conservative. Especially in the Republican primary. Now I don’t know which of the candidates are more conservative Mr. Hamilton or Mr. Oneil or any other candidate. But in my opinion, in the Republican primary the most conservative will win.
GOD BLESS
BUDDY RANDOLPH, Candidate for HOD, 41st district
Buddy, I know this much:
O’Neil has been involved in GOP politics for 10+ years now. When he worked as the chief recruiter for candidates back in 2000, the WVGOP had a full lsate of candidates, including for the Board of Public Works and he has been active at the county and state level. As far as I can tell, he is one of the FEW folks in leadership positions in the WVGOP that has their heads screwed on right!!
I’ll go one more too Buddy. If this is Hamilton’s idea of being conservative…then he just needs to switch parties now !! He can call Richie Robb to find out how to do it. Two peas in a pod from what I can tell.
Scratching my head at Conservative Dem…..I don’t think you understand the dynamics of a Republican primary, especially in a Republican-majority county like Upshur. And who knows how Hamilton will fare — he has never drawn a strong challenger since getting elected in 2002 according to locals. Where I’m from, RINOs get called out and lose — I doubt Upshur County is any different.
I don’t think that tax cuts is a losing issue when the incumbent regularly supports/sponsors them–maybe when its an area of agreement between the candidates it won’t make a difference.
….and don’t forget his love affair with organized labor.
Easy El, you misinterpret what I was saying. I am not saying which one is the more conservative, I do know Tom a little bit, b/c I have met him on several ocassions & don’t belive I have met mr. Hamilton.
I am not taking sides however. I just feel that conservative Dem is off base b/c I feel the people will pick the most conservative. So either you misunderstood me or I am misunderstanding u.
I agreed with Mr. Shaffer & I agree with what u were saying about taxes.
GOD BLESS
BUDDY
Vote the RINO OUT!!!!
If he will cave on this issue he will cave on others,never fails.
Olfrt,
Hamilton has a real hit parade of bad bills, and West Virginia Watchdog did some great work sniffing around his campaign finance history.
Voted for the so-called “Captive Audience Bill”, a labor-pushed bill that prohibits employers from discussing issues of politics, religion, or labor issues with their employees.
Regular sponsor of the “bottle bill” that would slap a new tax on each bottled beverage sold in the state
Sponsor of a bill to DOUBLE the per-barrel tax on beer
Sponsor of a bill to slap a 5-cent per OUNCE tax on alcohol to pay for more drug treatment
Sponsor of a resolution to increase the terms of members of the House of Delegates to 4 years and State Senate to 6 years
Voted to make the increase in the per-diem legislative compensation retroactive
….and all this was discovered spending about 15 minutes on the legislative web site. Wonder what else is out there with some digging.
Thanks Jonathan, I guess my suspicions’ were correct.
Lets vote, Thomas Joseph O’Neill Republican Upshur
District/Circuit 39