A proposal to increase the beer excise tax may not become law, even though the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition of Iowa believes it would help curb underage drinking.

A recent study conducted by the University of Minnesota for the Iowa Department of Health found about half of Iowans would be “willing” or “quite willing” to increase alcohol taxes if the money raised by the increase would be used to aid the prevention of underage drinking.

In Story County, 56 percent of citizens were willing to raise the excise tax in exchange for money being directed to prevention services, said Gerri Bugg, member of the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition of Iowa — the organization that pushed for the bill.

According to the Legislature bills, Senate File 2050 and House File 2107, which are being held in committee in both houses, the excise tax on a 31-gallon barrel of beer would double from $5.89 to $11.78. This amounts to an increase of approximately two cents per 12-ounce glass of beer.

Bugg said the proposed bill would raise an additional $13.8 million, which could be used to combat underage drinking, a major concern of the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition of Iowa.

Healthy Lifestyles Coalition of Iowa is a group of organizations that have banded together to address not only underage drinking, but several other issues such as underage tobacco use.

George Belitsos, director of Ames Youth and Shelter Services said a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found a 10-cent increase in the price of alcohol would cause minors to start drinking a year later.

“It would have a positive impact,” Belitsos said. “The cheaper beer is, the more people drink.”

Belitsos said the beer excise tax has not increased since 1968.

Bugg said the increased tax would be effective on teens.

“For the person who goes out and buys a beer or buys a six-pack, it’s not going to matter, but for a young teenager with not a lot of money, that’s the target audience we’re looking at,” she said.

Bugg said Iowa currently ranks 25th in the nation for the amount of its beer excise tax. She said beer taxes range from $.02 per gallon in Wyoming to $1.07 per gallon in Alaska.

Mike Adams, manager of Welch Avenue Station, 207 Welch Ave., said he was not in favor of the bill. If the object of the bill is to raise money, the state should find an alternate way to increase revenue, because raising the tax on beer might not offset the resulting decrease in consumption, as Bugg and Belitsos suggest, he said.

“The more and more states increase sin taxes, the less of those products are consumed,” he said, which also results in less revenue for the state as less people are spending money on beer.

He said the price he pays to stock Welch Avenue Station with beer goes up each year even without a tax increase, and he anticipated the excise tax increase would be absorbed within that. He said, though, it would cause the bar to raise their prices.

“I don’t think it would be different than the increase every year,” he said.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said he did not anticipate the bill would pass, because the Republican majority in the Legislature has pledged not to raise taxes.

“I personally would be very surprised to see it come out of subcommittee,” he said.

Bugg said she also does not think the bill will pass, but she said she hopes a similar bill will pass next year.