The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board is hoping that their new 250,000-square-foot building off Congressman Dickinson Drive will be ready in Montgomery next year.
The new warehouse is expected to cost $98 million. The facility will be paid for by ABC’s operating expenses over 20 years.
ABC Chief Operating Officer Neil Graff told members of the Legislature’s General Fund committee that while some of their short term contributions to the fund will decrease, he said, “In 20 years, it will be a great contributor to the General Fund.”
I have a better idea to help with revenues to the government: Shut it down.
Sell the new building to someone else and completely dismantle the ABC Control Board.
The $98 million would go much further in a free market system than it would in a government monopoly.
The fact that Alabama runs a socialist system when it comes to something that can be handled better in the private sector should be an embarrassment to every conservative Republican in the Legislature.
As I’ve argued before, Alabama is one of only 17 states that has a government monopoly over alcohol sales.
I could understand why a Democrat-controlled state would want a monopoly of this kind, but the Yellowhammer State is a solidly-conservative state. Can someone explain how having government-run liquor stores aligns with the state’s conservative priorities?
It also needs to be said that those who believe that the government makes money off these socialist liquor stores don’t understand basic economics. While it is true that the stores generate revenue, they also hurt possible economic growth from private retailers who would no longer be held back by the government monopoly.
Even if we didn’t completely abolish the board, but just privatized the ABC retail stores, it’s expected the state would save anywhere from $25-$45 million.
State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said it best when he first started pushing for Alabama to get out of the liquor retail business.
“ABC does contribute several million dollars to the budget as it is today,” Orr said. “However, if you do not have the labor costs and leases, if you did not have the insurance, utilities, transportation – if all those costs go away, that’s where we find our true savings.”
It’s past time for Alabama to join most of the other states in the union and get rid of its socialist liquor enterprise.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
