DISCUS Anticipates Intense Tax Battle In 2010

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Peter Zwiebach
Posted: February 3, 2010

The spirits industry may have dealt with the threat of higher taxes in most states last year, but DISCUS President and CEO Peter Cressy says he expects even more state tax battles in 2010. “States are expecting a total budget deficit of around $180 million, up from approximately $130 million last year, and obviously, legislators will be looking at ways to raise taxes,” said Cressy. “There will likely be more of a threat than last year, and we’re going to have to fight like heck against it.”

In 2009, 40 states proposed raising spirits taxes and DISCUS helped defeat these measures in 32 states, according to Cressy (actually, because there was often more than one bill put forth in an individual state, DISCUS dealt with 120 separate tax bills).

“Taxation is our biggest single challenge right now,” Cressy told Impact in a recent interview, adding, “The municipal tax piece is the next great challenge. Some state legislatures are giving municipalities greater authority on alcohol taxation. This is a problem for us, because it’s already difficult to track tax bills at the state level.” It appears as though states and municipalities across the U.S. will be keeping DISCUS very busy in 2010.