If approved into law, spirit drinks or “party drinks” such as Vodka Cruiser, Smirnoff Ice, Impulse, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Jack Daniels Lynchburg Lemonade and other such drinks will be taxed, and in return, $100,000 will be appropriated annually for the construction and re-pavement of roads in the Tualauta District, in accordance with a bill introduced by Tualauta faipule Vui Florence Tuaumu Saulo.

The Tualauta rep told Samoa News yesterday these drinks are being imported for the sole purpose of providing a vehicle for alcohol to be consumed and because the laws do not specifically name these drinks and define them, there is a legal argument that they are not alcoholic beverages and are not subject to the higher taxation rates that are placed on beer, distilled spirits and wine.

"This needs to end; this loophole needs to be closed legislatively,” she stated.

The prevalence and ill effects of alcohol in our society have been well documented, and the great majority of public peace disturbances have some involvement with alcohol, she noted, adding that the detrimental health effects are well documented at our local hospital as well, and of course the evil that is Driving Under the Influence, Vui said.

"It makes absolutely no sense that party drinks — which are pre-mixed distilled spirits— are not treated the same as distilled spirits since that is essentially what they are."The bill proposes alcoholic beverages to mean "any beverage sold for consumption (instead of beer, distilled spirits, wine or liquor) which contains two percent or more of alcohol by weight, instead of eight percent.

THE BILL

According to the measure, introduced in first reading last Friday, this bill will fix a loophole that exists in Customs for enforcement of alcoholic beverages in the territory, where “there is no provision that deals with the new type of alcoholic beverages known as ‘party drinks’…”

The measure states these drinks (which are named in the bill) are not included in the definition of beer, distilled spirits and wine because they are a hybrid of distilled spirits and either carbonated or con carbonated sweet drinks, which usually contain less than 7% alcohol by volume because they are premixed; “nonetheless these drinks contain alcohol for human consumption, and are used in exactly the same way as other alcoholic beverages and contain no medicinal properties which would exempt them from taxation. As such, it says “party drinks should be treated by our laws as alcoholic beverages such as beer, distilled spirits and wine.”

The measure connects closing of the “spirit drink” loophole and Tualauta District’s need for the construction and re-pavement of roads, by allocating an appropriation of $100,000, with funding coming from this new tax.

According to the measure, the current administration is pursuing plans which fund projects on a one-off basis and is due to the growth and expansion of the district. It is believed that — while this approach alleviates the current need for basic infrastructure roads — a more permanent solution is necessary to fund the construction and repair of this basic necessity on a continuing annual basis.