Thanks to new laws, restaurant patrons in Massachusetts can now start ordering cocktails at 10 a.m. on Sundays, instead of noon. In Arizona they can start hitting the bottle at 6 a.m.—four hours earlier than previously allowed.
Fans of the new rules can clink their glasses and toast the recession, which has state and county leaders looking to revise their alcohol sales laws in order to give small businesses in their borders more sales and also increase tax revenue as they face large budget deficits.
Other law revisions are in the works. City and state politicians in Connecticut and Virginia are leading efforts to modify alcohol laws in their states.
“I have followed the ebb and flow of blue laws for 30 years, and in my opinion the pattern is that repeal efforts tick upward every time there’s a downturn in the economy,” said David Laband, economics and policy professor at Auburn University, who wrote a book on the laws that restrict alcohol sales on Sundays.
Virginia is trying to do away with state-controlled liquor stores in favor of selling private licenses. I'm surprised my home state of North Carolina isn't considering the same. Still, states are looking for every revenue dollar they can get, and if that means getting rid of blue laws and dry counties, well then, all of a sudden it's time for county and state governments to get their cut of the action.
Same goes for the marijuana legalization battle in California. The state's Prop 19 would legalize pot and set up a framework for its sale and distribution, and of course collecting taxes on those operations. Currently Prop 19 has a pretty healthy lead in the polls.
Plenty of states have legalized gambling these days too. Ohio did in 2008 and new casinos are being built now including downtown casinos in Cleveland and here in Cincy.
Expect more states to follow on collecting revenue from vice. Gotta raise revenues somehow.
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