In 1933 the Beverage Tax Division was created as a unit in the State Treasurer's Office to collect taxes on alcoholic beverages. Its name was changed to the Division of Beverage and Cigarette Taxes in 1939 when Wisconsin first imposed a tax on cigarettes. Chapter 17 of the Laws of 1949 transferred the unit to the Department of Taxation. The division's responsibilities included collection of state taxes on alcoholic and tobacco products, enforcement of laws against prostitution, enforcement of gambling laws, and after 1959 the enforcement of the oleomargarine tax. The division was abolished in 1967 when its enforcement responsibilities were transferred to the Division of Criminal Investigation in the Department of Justice pursuant to the Executive Branch Reorganization Act of that year.
