More News

ANNAPOLIS — Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett is supporting a bill to put a 10-cent-per-drink tax on alcohol.

Leggett (D) is scheduled to appear at a news conference today calling for the General Assembly to pass the measure, which is being touted by a broad coalition of advocates who say that it will bring in $214 million per year.

The revenue would go toward a variety of initiatives, including expanding Medicaid to childless adults, services to the developmentally disabled, addiction treatment and prevention and mental health programs.

"We need the revenue," Leggett said Tuesday. "We have tried to balance the budget so far based on making reductions."

Leggett's support comes as a poll released Monday by Annapolis polling firm OpinionWorks found that half of Maryland voters say state leaders should make an exception to their pledge not to raise taxes by increasing the alcohol tax.

In the telephone poll of 402 registered voters, 35 percent said leaders should stick to their pledge. Five percent said "it depends."

The percentage supporting the tax increases to 71 percent if the revenues are used to fund the health priorities targeted in the bill, the poll found.

"Given the strong level of support that exists for this issue, we hope that you will do all you can to enact this measure this year," Leggett and County Council President Nancy M. Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie (D-Dist. 25) of Forestville and House Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Sheila Ellis Hixson (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring.

The unpredictability of budget deliberations and the possibility that revenue estimates due later this month could leave lawmakers looking for ways to prop up needed services bode well for the bill, said Del. William A. Bronrott, the bill's lead sponsor in the House of Delegates.

"[Budget leaders] may very well turn to what has become a very popular proposal amongst people of the state," said Bronrott (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda.

Hearings on the legislation are slated for March 10 in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and on March 11 in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The state tax on alcohol is among the nation's lowest. It has not been increased on distilled spirits since 1955, and on beer and wine since 1972.

Should the tax hike pass, "The Montgomery County dispensary will lose an extraordinary amount of money because everybody's going to buy their alcohol in D.C.," said Bruce C. Bereano, a lobbyist for the Licensed Beverage Distributors of Maryland.

Leggett disagreed that people would cross borders to avoid paying an extra dime.

"I think you'd spend that much in the fuel trying to do that," he said.