Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 17:52:33 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200108302152.RAA00837@mattababy.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com
Subject: thanks for co-sponsoring HR 1305

Dear Representative Capuano

I'm writing to thank you for co-sponsoring HR 1305, a bill to amend the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the tax on beer to its pre-1991 level.
As you know, this bill has been stalled in the Ways and Means Committee since
29 March, despite the fact that it has 187 co-sponsors.  I hope that this bill
will come to the floor once Congress returns from its August recess, and I
trust that it will continue to receive your support.

In 1990, the $9/barrel tax on beer was doubled to $18/barrel.  44% of the price
of beer is accounted for by federal, state, and local taxes.  Returning the
federal beer tax to its level of eleven years ago would reduce federal
revenues by only $1.7 billion per year.