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Old 01-22-2010, 10:58 AM
 
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
8,083 posts, read 15,092,025 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mica View Post
So I was doing a little research. Montana does have a limit on liquor licenses and the cost for one in the private market puts San Fran to shame! In Kalispell, they have gone for as much as $950,000. < Not a typo. Unbelievable.

The Strange World of Montana Alcohol Law | Daniel Testa | Missoula | New West Missoula
That's what happens when a liquor license is regarded as a business asset. It gains the value it has to the business. And that naturally makes prices skyrocket, especially when it's a restricted commodity.

It would be a lot more fair to the little guys, and a lot more small-business friendly, if it were a flat fee based on seating capacity, or better yet a direct tax on liquor actually sold, so it would be in direct proportion to how much money it makes the business. As it is, only deep pockets can afford to get into it at all. How does that help the small business economy that the majority of people depend on for their jobs??

Per the article, it's a legacy of Prohibition (and no doubt of MT having been a top bootlegging state -- bootleggers didn't like competition much) -- with the notion that if you prevent establishments from selling more than X-much booze, people will only drink X-much booze. But it doesn't work that way; people drink however much they're going to regardless (and in fact drink MORE when there are restrictions on alcohol availability).

As the article points out, there is also a good deal of lobbying to retain the system from those who enjoy the protected monopoly of an existing liquor license, too.
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