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The Wisconsin District Attorneys Association wants to raise the state’s beer and liquor taxes — something that hasn’t happened in nearly 40 years — to pay for more prosecutors.

Wisconsin’s beer tax, third lowest in the nation, hasn’t gone up since 1969. The liquor tax, which is among the lowest nationwide, hasn’t increased since 1981 other than when a new tax on hard cider was added in 1997.

To increase prosecutors’ salaries and hire 121 new assistant district attorneys, the combined beer and liquor tax would have to go up 20 percent.

In 2005-2006, the taxes brought in about $50 million a year. The cost of the prosecutors’ proposal is between $10 million and $15 million annually, said Ralph Uttke, the Langlade County District Attorney and president of the association.

He called the increase proposed Monday “moderate.” Wisconsin’s 6.5 cent tax per gallon of beer is two or three times less than what neighboring states charge. The tax is 14.8 cents in Minnesota, 18.5 cents in Illinois, 19 cents in Iowa and 20.3 cents in Michigan.

The Legislature, along with Gov. Jim Doyle, would have to approve any increase.

A proposal introduced in the Wisconsin Assembly in 2007 to raise the beer tax the equivalent of 2.4 cents per bottle ran into opposition from the Tavern League, which represents bars, the beer industry, and Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The bill went nowhere.

It doesn’t make sense to raise the beer tax and earmark that increase for a specific budget item, Tavern League lobbyist Scott Stenger said Monday.

“That’s not the way state government works,” he said. “We think it’s a bad precedent, and if there’s going to be a discussion on taxes, it needs to be much more global.”

Uttke acknowledged that raising alcohol taxes will not be easy, as shown by Wisconsin’s legislative history.
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