James Casha · Top Commenter ·
University of Detroit Phil's [[Cavanagh) dad, and the rest of them, missed the boat. He should have pushed for statewide and/or county ALCOHOL TAXES instead of, or in addition to, instituting an 'income tax'. I don't know if a city can levy an alcohol tax, but if they can, he should have done that as well. Will Phil miss the boat as well?
A recent report from the CDC shows the cost of excessive alcohol consumption in Michigan to be $8.2 BILLION. I would venture to say that a lot of that cost is in Detroit and the social implications contribute to making Detroit - not a very safe, or nice, place to live. http://content.govdelivery.com/accou...lletins/870186
A 20 cent/drink increase in alcohol taxes would generate $500 million in additional state revenue. This is still only 1/5 the 'governments' share of the $8.2 Billion [[$3.2 BILLION). If we raised the tax to $2.00/drink, the state could help all of Michigan's cities.
The 'State' has been listening to the 'alcohol lobby' [[for over 50 years) just like Kwame listened to 'Wall Street'.