States in Budget Trouble Turn to the Bottle

2 years ago

0 Comments Say Something »

Text Size

Correspondent

Several financially strapped states with with strict alcohol controls are considering saving money by privatizing the regulation and sales of booze, beer and wine.

The states say they could raise revenue by selling distribution centers and auctioning liquor licenses to private companies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Virginia, North Carolina, Washington, Vermont and Mississippi are all looking at proposals that would loosen control of distributorships or retail stores.

As ways to boost revenue, Colorado now allows spirits to be sold seven days a week instead of six, and Pennsylvania will soon permit liquor sales at automated kiosks inside grocery stores.

Moves toward privatization are opposed by religious groups, labor unions and independent liquor stores, the Journal reported.

Filed Under: Taxes

Tagged: Daily Guidance, DailyGuidance, liquor, states

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.