Michigan's economy is in a budget slump. With a $800-900 million budget deficit, industries and consumers in certain sectors are fearing tax changes could hit them hard.

The Michigan Brewers Guild has prepared itself against changes that could involve an increase in beer and wine tax. The guild launched a campaign petition drive to encourage consumers to fight the state government against such a tax.

"I'm opposed to balancing a state budget in part on the backs of small businesses," said Tim Suprise, president of Arcadia Brewing Company in Battle Creek. "That would have a profound negative impact on the (approximately) 70 small brewers in the state."

An official proposal for increasing beer and wine tax does not exist and isn't something the state legislature is interested in considering.

"There is no proposal from the governor to raise the tax," said Greg Bird, spokesman for the Office of the State Budget.

Despite the fact that no official proposal to increase the tax exists, lobbyists against the idea of the tax increase are aggressively pushing the campaign.

At the start of the Michigan Brewers Guild's campaign on April 10, Suprise said his company had about 200 signatures.

At The Livery, a microbrewery in Benton Harbor, about 300 signatures had been signed within the first week.

"Lobbyists are powerful," MSU economics Professor Charles Ballard said. "What is good policy for the society as a whole doesn't always get enacted into law because you have very powerful interest groups that want to protect their own turf.

"Certainly the beer and wine industries are very powerful."

In Michigan, beer tax, which is a flat tax on a barrel of beer, has not been raised since 1962. Tax on wine also has not been raised since 1981.

"The problem with that is inflation," Ballard said. "If you don't adjust the rate, inflation will erode the real revenue-raising capabilities."

However, Michigan's brewers don't see an increase as helping the state, but hurting it by encouraging consumers to look elsewhere for beer and wine products.

"Increasing that tax would place a burden on the Michigan brewers and the cost of doing business, and ultimately the price increase gets passed on to the consumer who oftentimes are the least able to afford an increase," Suprise said.

The state has been cutting taxes on beer and wine for 45 years. Raising the tax doesn't mean Michigan will get a lot more revenue, but it also doesn't mean people will travel out of the state for a six-pack of beer, Ballard said.

While no set figure for increasing the tax has been proposed, rumors between brewers suggest the figure could double or triple, which could put breweries like The Livery out of business, the brewery's president, Steve Berthel said.

"It's a tough time in our economy and for any small business," he said.

Staff writer Alex Altman contributed to this report.