Unlike the booze-addled drunks on the SECB, I oppose privatizing liquor sales in Washington state. I think the State Store system works just fine, and see no compelling reason to explode the number of hard liquor outlets tenfold.
But if I were to support privatization, it certainly wouldn't be in the form of Initiatives 1100 or 1105, and especially not at a time when Washington state and local governments are mired in fiscal crisis.
The State Store system currently adds nearly half a billion dollars a year to state and local coffers, money we desperately need to pay for schools, health care, law enforcement, public health and other crucial public services. For example, the $1.8 million King County would lose would be enough to restore the domestic violence prevention programs slated to be cut in the proposed budget, while the $7.5 million Seattle currently pulls in sure ain't chump change in light of our $67 million projected budget shortfall.
And it's not just the liquor tax that produces revenue. As the Seattle Times explains (and a lot of folks on the Yes side don't seem to understand), our State Stores actually operate at a profit:
For example, last year the Legislature directed the liquor board to raise an additional $80 million, so the board increased the markup, which is like a profit margin. It rose from 39.2 to 51.9 percent, and is scheduled to return to 39.2 percent next July..Under I-1100, whose primary backer is Costco Wholesale, retailers would replace the state markup with their own — presumably smaller — profit margins
Yeah, sure, I know there are those free market ideologues who chafe at the notion of government running a profitable enterprise, but... well... ours does, and we all benefit from it in the form of lower taxes and more services. So is now really the time to just hand over those profits to Costco, Safeway, Kroger and 7-Eleven?
Indeed, other states looking to privatize their state store systems are largely selling it to voters as an opportunity to ease budget constraints via a one-time windfall; for example, Virginia hopes to earn at least $458 million auctioning off its distribution and retail business.
So can Washington taxpayers really afford to just give away the store for free?
No, of course not. That would just be dumb.
Honestly, I'm not sure that I can ever be convinced that privatization is in the public interest, but I'd have a helluva lot harder time arguing against it if somebody came up with a proposal that proved to be a good deal for Washington taxpayers. And I-1100 just ain't it.