Opinion: Low alcohol taxes uphold systemic racism

Beer wine taxes

Oregon's low taxes on beer and wine favor the profits of an overwhelmingly white-owned industry over the painful impacts disproportionately borne by communities of color, authors Se-ah-dom Edmo and Eddy Morales write. Spyros Kollias Jr., for The Oregonian/OregonLive

Se-ah-dom Edmo and Eddy Morales

Edmo is a descendant of the Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce, and Yakama Tribes and is co-chair of Oregon Recovers. Morales is a Gresham city councilor. Both have family members struggling with alcohol addiction.

It’s been said that a budget is a moral document. How – and from whom – we choose to generate revenue, and how – and for whom – we choose to spend it are moral decisions. These decisions can either entrench or erode systemic racism.

Oregon’s alcohol tax policy, which favors the profits of an overwhelmingly white-owned industry over the painful consequences borne disproportionately by communities of color, sustains and promotes systemic racism and must be changed.

Our sky-high untreated alcohol addiction rates ­– 5th in the nation and near last-in-the-country access to treatment services – contribute to an overrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, tribal and other people of color in our prisons, foster homes and homeless encampments.

Oregon has the lowest beer tax and the second lowest wine tax in the country, when taking into account Oregon’s lack of a sales tax. Beer excise taxes are less than a penny per bottle and haven’t been raised since 1977. Wine taxes are 13 cents a bottle, which hasn’t gone up since 1982.

Just like with tobacco, alcohol price increases are a proven public health tool to reduce harmful consumption. In Maryland, a three percentage point increase in the sales tax led to a 26% decline in underage drinking and 17% decline in binge drinking, according to a study by a Maryland-based foundation – leading predictors of lifetime addictive substance use.

Oregon’s leaders have a unique opportunity to both advance racial justice and address Oregon’s addiction crisis, simply by increasing the price of alcohol. This solution is popular with voters: a recent poll by DHM Research found that 52% of Oregonians surveyed approve of raising beer, wine, and cider taxes to pay for expanded mental health and substance use services.

Rep. Tawna Sanchez, D-Portland, who introduced a bill earlier this session to raise beer and wine taxes, has amended it to meet the alcohol industry halfway. She is proposing a task force to draft legislation for the 2022 session that does two things: raise alcohol prices as a public health strategy to drive down underage and binge drinking and utilize that revenue to fund the state Alcohol & Drug Policy Commission addiction recovery strategic plan – a comprehensive continuum of addiction services that finally match the scale and urgency of our addiction crisis.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is moving forward with a proposal to require minimum pricing for hard liquor. While minimum pricing is important, absent a price increase applied to all alcohol sold, it will be marginally impactful in reducing costly excessive alcohol consumption.

Coming out of the pandemic is precisely the right time to discourage harmful drinking and fund services. The COVID crisis poured gasoline on the fire of our existing addiction epidemic: poor mental health, substance use, overdose deaths, and demand for treatment soared during the pandemic, disproportionately impacting communities of color.

There are almost 400,000 people struggling with addiction across Oregon, primarily alcohol addiction. Balancing concerns for these Oregonians’ health and lives with 1200 alcohol companies is a false equivalency that perpetuates systemic racism.

So, to all the legislators who put out equity statements and put up Black Lives Matter signs last summer: We’re asking you to put those values into action. We can’t afford to wait.


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