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Mass. Considers New Tax to Fund Treatment
October 29, 2003

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With a fiscal crisis in Massachusetts resulting in cuts in addiction-treatment funding, lawmakers are considering a tax that would fund treatment, education, and prevention efforts, Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly reported Oct. 13.

The measure would increase the state's alcohol tax to create the Substance Abuse Health Protection Fund. The fund would be phased in over three years, with the maximum amount in the fund ranging from $70 to $80 million a year.

Although the state's alcohol excise tax has not been raised in nearly 25 years, the alcohol industry is strongly opposing the bill.

"It is time for the alcohol beverage industry to recognize that we have a huge public crisis in addiction," said Betty Funk, president and chief executive of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of Massachusetts. "We must get this bill. We need this money and we need it in a way that we could depend on."

The bill is currently in the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Currently, nine states use revenues from alcohol excise taxes to fund treatment programs. They are Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, and Utah.