RT wallstCS: Recessionary Indicator: Steak Lunch with [Warren] Buffett Down ~78% YoY 2.1m v. 456,789 $$

Legislators consider taxing Joe Sixpack where it hurts the most

PROVIDENCE –– Facing crushing budget deficits, reluctant state lawmakers have already agreed to raise taxes on cigarettes and health-insurance premiums in recent months. But they have largely left Joe Sixpack out of the debate.

Until now.

Substance-abuse advocates have launched an effort to revive a long-ignored proposal to boost Rhode Island’s tax on beer. And some lawmakers are listening.

“I’ve always liked the idea,” said House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, noting a recent move by the Massachusetts’ legislature to eliminate its sales-tax exemption on alcohol. “I would say we’re looking at all potential revenue sources.”

Even a modest hike in the beer tax could discourage destructive drinking and bring millions of new dollars to the state’s depleted coffers, according to supporters. But alcohol distributors and liquor store owners say higher beer taxes could hurt both local businesses and thirsty Rhode Islanders.

“Ultimately, it will raise the cost of beer to the consumer,” said Charles M. Borkoski, vice president of marketing for McLaughlin & Moran, Rhode Island’s dominant beer distributor. “And the economic conditions in our industry are such that any reduction in sales could result in a reduction in personnel.”

But the beer tax supporters have been pushing hard this legislative session.

The executive director of the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Association of Rhode Island, Neil A. Corkery, has met with Costantino at least twice about nearly doubling Rhode Island’s beer tax, currently at 10 cents a gallon. The price of a six-pack would jump by about a nickel. Corkery estimates the increase could generate $3 million for the state.

And the nonprofit group, Rhode Island Communities for Addiction Recovery Efforts, led a State House rally yesterday, attracting more than 100 people to highlight its top legislative priority: increasing the state’s alcohol tax. The organization also launched a direct-mail campaign in recent days aimed at elected officials, who have avoided raising the beer tax since 1989…

Current taxes on a six-pack:

Federal excise tax: 33 cents

State excise tax: 5.6 cents

Beer is also subject to the state’s 7 percent sales tax.

Sources: R.I. Division of Taxation, Center for Science in the Public Interest

Legislators consider taxing Joe Sixpack where it hurts the most | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal

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Costa Rica ousts top 2 intel officials

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica has replaced two top intelligence officials because a government password apparently was used to loot private bank accounts.

Prosecutors have accused the deputy director of the Intelligence and Security Directorate, Roberto Guillen, of helping steal from private bank accounts after accessing credit reports through a government account with a private data company.

The president’s office on Wednesday announced that the agency’s director, Roberto Solorzano, had resigned after acknowledging the agency’s “negligence in the handling of the password.” Jose Torres, a top adviser to President Oscar Arias, will succeed Solorzano, who has not been accused of any crime.

Prosecutors say Guillen was part a ring that used falsified checks to steal at least $360,000 from Costa Rican businessmen. Guillen allegedly used the password to access credit reports on the victims.

Guillen was arrested in November but is free pending further investigation.

Cabinet Chief Rodrigo Arias said the government will propose legal reforms to the intelligence agency to better define its jurisdiction.

The Associated Press: Costa Rica ousts top 2 intel officials

Venezuela's new rich

“PETROLEUM socialism” is how Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, recently dubbed the blend of military populism and neo-Marxist statism to which he is subjecting his country. Its prime objective, he insists, is to improve the lot of the country’s poor majority. Mr Chávez proclaims that “being rich is bad”. He frequently lashes out at what he calls “the oligarchy”. Strange, then, that the streets of Caracas are clogged with big new 4x4s (Hummers are especially favoured), it is hard to get a table at the best restaurants, and art dealers and whisky importers have never had it so good. A new oligarchy seems to be rising in Venezuela on the back of the “Bolivarian Revolution”, named for the country’s independence hero.

“Some of Chávez’s speeches are for the gallery,” says Alberto Muller Rojas, a retired army general who was until recently the president’s chief of staff. “And I’ll give you an example: the attack on the bourgeoisie.” As evidence, General Muller singles out the banks: “the most extreme expression of the bourgeoisie” but “the most favoured sector” of the economy since Mr Chávez came to power in 1999. …

Venezuela | The rise of the “Boligarchs” | Economist.com

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