NICKEL BOOZE TAX PROPOSED FUNDS WOULD PROP UP TRAUMA SERVICES.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer State Sen. Gloria Romero Gloria J. Romero is currently the Democratic majority leader of the California State Senate and the first woman to ever hold this leadership position. Romero grew up in Barstow, and earned her associate's degree from Barstow Community College. She went on to a B.A. plans to announce today a ``Five-For-Life'' legislative proposal to levy a 5-cent tax per alcoholic drink to save California's beleaguered be·lea·guer tr.v. be·lea·guered, be·lea·guer·ing, be·lea·guers 1. To harass; beset: We are beleaguered by problems. 2. To surround with troops; besiege. trauma centers and emergency rooms. ``In light of our $21 billion deficit, California taxpayers cannot continue to bear the financial burden for an industry's product that is responsible for substantial health care costs to the public and the state,'' said Romero, D-Rosemead. ``The alcohol industry must assume greater responsibility for a product that, by its design, debilitates an individual's physical and mental capacities.'' The state currently levies sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. and a 20-cent-per-gallon excise tax Excise Tax 1. An indirect tax charged on the sale of a particular good. 2. A penalty tax applied to ineligible transactions in retirement accounts. This penalty is assessed by and paid to the IRS. Notes: 1. on beer and wine and $3.30 on distilled spirits. The federal government levies 5 cents per can of beer, 21 cents per bottle of wine and $2.14 per bottle of distilled spirits. A study by the National Transportation Institute determined that for every alcoholic beverage sold in California, 90 cents is spent on health care resulting from alcohol-related traffic collisions. About one-third of all injuries that are treated at emergency rooms and trauma centers in the state result from alcohol-related traffic crashes. This does not include assaults, domestic violence or other types of injuries, which according to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, are often linked to alcohol use. The legislation, known as the Alcohol Related Emergency Services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' Reimbursement Act of 2003, would levy a nickel-a-drink tax at the wholesale level, on distilled spirits, beer and wine sold in the state. It would generate an estimated $500 million a year. The bill guarantees all of the money would be used to defray de·fray tr.v. de·frayed, de·fray·ing, de·frays To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay. [French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, the rising cost of operating emergency rooms, trauma centers and first-response teams, including paramedics and firefighters. Gov. Gray Davis' proposed $10 billion budget cut would cut $412 million in health care programs and would have a devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. effect on the state's struggling emergency rooms and trauma centers, Romero said. The proposal comes on the heels of Davis' announcement last week that he has eliminated a one-time $25 million appropriation to assist struggling trauma centers in the state and has rolled back Medi-Cal reimbursement to 1985 levels. Los Angeles County supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina proposed the 5-cent tippler tip·ple 1 tr. & intr.v. tip·pled, tip·pling, tip·ples To drink (alcoholic liquor) or engage in such drinking, especially habitually or to excess. n. Alcoholic liquor. tax last week, arguing that most county services, including child welfare, health care, law enforcement, jails and welfare, deal with problems associated with alcohol abuse. Romero introduced a similar bill last year, but it died in committee. |
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