Greater Tacoma's brewery scene is alive and well with growing breweries looking to expand and countless homebrewers looking to advance their passion from hobby to small business. Last week Governor Jay Inslee proposed making a temporary tax on beer production permanent and also extending that tax to small breweries that are currently exempt. The proposed taxed is now making its way through the House and Senate. It's a puzzling proposal that, if passed, would deal an extremely harmful blow to one of Tacoma's exciting and budding industries.

To be certain, the state needs to raise new revenue to account for dire funding needs in areas like public education, social services and healthcare. That said, there are quite a few reasons to be skeptical of this tax.

1. It just seems too high, especially for the small breweries. The governor's proposal stands to triple the tax breweries currently pay on their beer (it's been reported that it would raise Washington's per-barrel tax from about $8 to about $23.) It would also make Washington's state tax on beer production up to 10 times more expensive than Oregon's, giving breweries in Oregon a major advantage (breweries in Ore. being regional competitors of those in Wash.).

2. Breweries are valuable employers and they should be treated as such. It takes real labor to brew beer and that's why breweries employ quite a lot of folks for businesses of their size and profit margins.

3. I don't see why brewers should pay any greater taxes than the producers of chocolate, coffee, paper or pencils. It's hard to not see this jumbo-sized tax as being a "sin tax," seeking to associate beer consumption with cigarette smoking (tobacco is taxed at a mega-high rate to deter its use). With great respect to those whose lives have been severely damaged by drunk drivers, I simply don't agree with a "sin tax" on beer, especially local "craft" beer.   

4. Why create a new permanent tax on beer production rather than consumption? The two local brewers I talked to were open to this idea. If the governor and legislature have made up their minds about a new "sin tax" on beer than a new consumption tax would meet that end without targeting in-state producers specifically.

There's a great deal more to be said about this issue and a lot of folks who know a lot more about it than I do saying it. I encourage you to read more about why this proposal may be a bad idea at two sites in particular: Washington Beer Blog and EndTheBeerTaxNow.com.

Zach Powers has managed multiple legislative campaigns in greater Tacoma and previously served as a Legislative aide in the Washington State Senate.