Monthly Archive for Alcohol Sales
Alcohol Sales Stories Posted in September 2008
Alcohol measure on ballot resisted
Category: Alcohol Sales · State: Arkansas · Source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Two Sharp County residents have filed lawsuits in attempts to keep an alcohol issue off the county’s November ballot, including one who requested a temporary injunction Monday that would delay the referendum if a judge cannot rule on it by the Nov. 4 election. The lawsuits, filed Friday afternoon in Sharp County Circuit Court, challenge both the wording of the petition and the signatures gathered by proponents of a move to allow the sale of alcohol in the north Arkansas county. Boone and Clark counties also have alcohol measures on the ballot. No organized opposition has surfaced yet in either county. Several groups in Benton County have tried twice since 2005 to get the issue on the ballot, failing both times to gather the 36, 600 signatures — 38 percent of registered voters — needed on petitions to get a proposal on the ballot. Ruth Reynolds, a retired Cherokee Village environmentalist, said allowing alcohol sales in Sharp County would reduce vehicle emissions because people wouldn’t have to drive as far to buy spirits.
Drink tax is kept off ballot
Category: Alcohol Sales · State: Pennsylvania · Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Allegheny County Board of Elections yesterday ruled that both referendum questions on the 10 percent drink tax should not be placed on the November ballot because they are illegal according to county and state law. In a ruling that seems to be a bigger blow to the restaurateurs and bar owners than it is to the county, the three judges temporarily serving as Board of Elections members unanimously declined to certify either ballot initiative. Bar and restaurant owners wanted to decrease the drink tax to 0.5 percent from 10 percent. The county wanted a referendum to offset a loss in drink tax revenues with a property tax increase. The county judges, appointed to replace the regular board members because of their public positions on both measures, cited established case law -- Hempfield School District v. Lancaster County -- to knock down the referendum petition by the group Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation, called FACT. FACT is composed of restaurateurs and bar owners who have opposed the drink tax since it was proposed together with a $2-a-day tax on car rentals to fund mass transit. It submitted 44,598 petition signatures to the county elections office last month in support of a ballot initiative to ask voters whether they want a reduction in the drink tax.
Other Monthly Archives for Alcohol Sales
- September 2008 (2)