PA liquor mess

No, not Pa's liquor, though this is what he had to deal with to buy the stuff in Pennsylvania. The issue is why the good people of the state still have to deal with the arcane system and high prices that make the state of PA seem prehistoric when it comes to liquor (separate stores for beer & liquor, liquor stores run by the state, no alcohol in grocery stores & convenience stores, etc.).

So excuse me this aside but something has to be done to get PA up to modern times!!

From this morning’s Post-Gazette comes word of a new drink tax in Allegheny County. What is disclosed at the bottom is unbelievable but helps explain why PA is horrible when it comes to buying alcohol. Free markets anyone?

The new 10 percent drink tax will be on top of five other tiers of liquor taxation already in place. In Pennsylvania, all liquor license holders must purchase wine and spirits from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

1. The PLCB charges a 30 percent markup;
2. A "bottle charge" of $1.25 per bottle;
3. A round-up to the nearest 9 cents ($21.82 becomes $21.89);
4. An 18 percent "Johnstown flood tax" that was enacted in 1936 to rebuild that city but has remained in effect ever since;
5. And the 7 percent sales tax in Allegheny County.

BTW, didn’t people go crazy when a “sin tax” was proposed to pay for the new stadiums and partly as a result that proposal was rejected? And that proposal was much less than a 10% tax. Now this gets approved without public referendum?

So, to recap, in PA a $10 bottle of liquor at wholesale prices is subject to this before anyone can buy it:

1. it is marked up to $13
2. the bottle charge brings it to $14.25
3. rounding up takes it to $14.31
4. because of something that happened in 1936, the price then becomes $16.89
5. Allegheny County wants their share so it rises to $18.07
6. the new 10% PAT tax makes the final price $19.88
   

Were/Are people aware of all these markups? That is almost double the original price! Why are people in PA still paying for Johnstown’s floods and why is there a $1.25 bottle charge and a 9 cent round up? I’m outraged and I don’t even live in PA anymore.

I’d like to think that people will do something about this, but about the only guarantee is that they’ll continue to walk into their favorite bar, order a drink and moan about the new tax and how expensive drinks are now.