Private liquor, public whine

[shadesofmauve]

[Note: I wrote this last weekend, and LJ ate it. I didn't want to waste more time being frustrated, so I let it go... and then LJ spat it back out again, so hey! Have a political rant post you might have otherwise been spared, and blame LJ. Twice.]

Starting yesterday, non-state-run stores were allowed to start selling hard alcohol in Washington. I've been generally for this change solely on ethical grounds -- there's a clear conflict in having the agency in charge of regulation be the same agency that sells the product, so separating those seemed like a good idea. For a lot of people, though, it was apparently about the price of their booze.

Today in the new booze aisle at Safeway I was next to a woman who was really bitter about the fact that the state added liquor taxes to make up for lost revenue. Now, personally, I think it's a bit disingenuous of Safeway to not show the state tax in their prices -- they do it at the register, like sales tax, which sucks as a shopper -- but the state tax on liquor is just fine by me. Hard alcohol is not a necessity by any means, and buying it is a choice. This woman was pissed, though, and told me about it. At length.

Because apparently "In Washington the government can't just work things out, so they make the taxpayers pay for things."

Um.

Lady.

Where the hell do you think government funding comes from?!

ALL government income comes from taxation, at root. "Just working things out" without taxation can't happen. The government workers that keep up the roads, make sure your doctor isn't actually a quack on the run from his previous injured patients*, and teach your kids? They need to eat too. And guess what? They pay their taxes! Some of them probably pay more in taxes than you do! And then they go happily pay the state tax on the bottle of tequila so they can forget they have to deal with ingrates like you who don't understand basic civics.

Ahem.

Anyway. It's booze. It's a purely optional luxury.

Perhaps they pay people to complain near the liquor aisle so the rest of the customers want to buy more.

*My dad works for DoH in medical practitioner regulation and discipline, so that example springs to mind.

Comments

[elialshadowpine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I lived in Texas which was AWFUL... basically if you weren't pregnant, you were screwed. And then in MA, which is a little better but still... nowhere near as good.