Reader wants initiative amended

My wife has been a Contract Liquor Store manager in Ephrata for 8 years. We recently attended a meeting with the liquor board to review the impacts of I-1183. One point caught our attention.

Section 105 (3) (c) of 1183 addresses collection of the 10 percent distributor tax. It states that by March 31, 2013 the state must collect $150 million from the distributors based upon their sales. If that amount is not achieved, the state must go back to those distributors to make up the difference. If the tax were based upon the retail price, which it is not, they would still come up short. Gross liquor sales in fiscal 2009 were $848 million. 10 percent of that is $85 million! 10 percent of wholesale will be much less. Costco and the major grocery chains as self-distributors will not be paying into that fund.

We will be the only state in the nation that allows large retailers to buy direct from the distillery! How will the distributors be financially able to make up that shortfall with no sales to collect the tax on? This tax was designed to cripple the distributors and their customers in the first year allowing the big box stores a huge competitive advantage. No matter what, liquor will not be any cheaper due to the existing tax structure plus the new 17 percent sales tax that everyone must pay.

The only way to level the playing field and ensure fair competition is for the legislature to amend this initiative. Please contact your legislators and ask them to correct this outrage. This is a blatant example of corporate greed and a textbook case of how an election can be bought. The devil is in the details! At the very least, everyone should be paying into this fund.