What are the real motives behind the 12,000% alcohol tax?

If you live in California and you drink beer, or wine, or distilled spirits, you have probably heard about the proposed constitutional amendment to raise taxes on alcohol by staggering amounts. If not you can read about it here at the LAist.

One thing that really stood out to me in the proposal was this;

(c) Fifteen percent for the funding of grants for naturopathic treatment and recovery programs for alcohol addiction.

It seems very odd that such a significant amount of grant money would be directed specifically towards naturopathic treatments. So a little snooping turns up the following in LinkedIn.Not much information can be found about the 21st Century Wellness Initiative, and it would be hard to know if this is even the correct Kent Whitney. However we can locate Kent M and Josie Whitney to the San Diego area. A reverse white page search shows a San Diego household with a Kent M Whitney and a Josie B Whitney living here;If this wild conjecturing is true, this plan is actually kind of clever, create a constitutional amendment to provide $900M of funding to a tiny industry and be positioned to make use of the grant money. At this point it is impossible to connect enough dots to come to any real conclusions. Is the Kent Whitney in LinkedIn the same Kent Whitney behind the tax increase proposal? Is 21st Century Wellness Initiative a naturopathic prevention or treatment program? However, if it does turn out to be true let me be the first to say, “Kudos to you Kent Whitney!”

  • nochancethiswillpass
    I want to know what the Whitney's have been smoking and were can I get some? This is the most idiotic thing I have ever read. They will single handedly ruin the wine industry in California, put thousands and thousands people out of work, the increase in crime alone would bankrupt our state further. You people our idiots.
  • MrBill
    I wonder how the Whitney's will react ot the dramatic increase in crime when "bootleggers" bring alcohol in from other states to sell under the table. That's what started Al Capone's rackets and that's how old Joe Kennedy made his fortune (supplying Canadian booze to the mob).
  • Great post. I've expanded a little on your research. Thanks for the terrific detective work.
  • I am curious about whether any of it will turn out to be true. I sent Mr. Whitney an email, but unfortunately I imagine he is going to have a hard time wading through his inbox.
  • Thanks for this info...I was wondering just who was behind this massive alcohol tax.
  • Thank you so much for the comment. I think it has been well established that Kent and Josie Whitney are from San Diego, but I have yet to get any confirmation about their link to 21st Century Wellness Initiative, or even what the company does. I have sent an email requesting additional information but have not heard back.

    This particular situation though really shines a light on the problems of the California proposition system for creating laws. The system tends to create a bunch of knee jerk, special purpose laws that have unintended consequences on other areas of government and that compound over time.
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