Some sobering numbers on state stores

Before they pop the cork on the sale of the state stores, Pa. must be able to replace that annual revenue.

Call it Harrisburg’s version of “hide and seek.”

Legislators are convinced there is revenue hidden in the nooks and crannies of state government.

And they are seeking to root it out, along with desperately seeking new streams of revenue.

And they do so with good reason. The state is swimming in red ink. Again.

The latest budget projections put the state’s deficit at a lusty $600 million. And that is aside from the “ticking time bomb” in budget talks, the state’s perpetually underfunded public employee pension plans.

Those two massive economic concerns are currently checking in at a less than robust $50 billion in the hole.

Gov. Tom Wolf apparently is taking a different tack this year when it comes to the budget he will roll out the first week of February.

He said he will not be seeking increases in either the state income or sales taxes, as he did in his first two years in office, both years sparking lengthy budget impasses with Republicans who control the state Legislature.

Hmmm, must be getting close to re-election time.

That leaves both Wolf and legislative leaders with a big problem. They need new revenue. Lots of it. So they will no doubt look to the usual suspects. Expect our elected representatives in Harrisburg to tinker with the notion of online gaming.

They will raise their glasses and suggest the state get out of the booze business, selling off the state store system and pocketing a nice piece of change in the process.

Booze sales in Pennsylvania slowly but surely are evolving from the dark ages.

In recent years beer and wine sales have been added to supermarkets. Beer sales are beginning to show up in convenience stores, and beer distributors now have the ability to sell you a single beer or a six-pack, as opposed to the cases they were limited to just a year ago.

But Pennsylvania continues to control the distribution of alcohol in the state, and the sale of liquor through hundreds of state stores.

Wolf has been a staunch opponent of the Republican push to blow up the Liquor Control Board, instead pushing for the kind of “modernization” and tweaking that focuses on convenience for the consumer, not necessarily the state’s bottom line. He probably is not averse to keeping all those union jobs – and their votes – intact as well.

But Republicans in the Legislature see an economic windfall in dismantling the state store system and selling off licenses to private enterprise.

No doubt there the sale of those licenses would be a windfall for the state, but there is another aspect to it that proponents don’t often talk about.

And it was underscored by some startling numbers that came out this week.

What happens down the road, and how does the state replace the revenue those stores create every year?

Apparently, Pennsylvanians were very busy making merry this holiday season.

Numbers from the state Liquor Control Board showed record sales in the final weeks of 2016 as Pennsylvania celebrated the holidays.

The state recorded several records for booze sales, including a single-day record on Friday, Dec. 23 (the Friday before Christmas), an all-time single month sales record for December and a record for the first half of the state’s fiscal year.

The state raked in $327.3 million in total booze sales for the month of December. Sales for the first six months of fiscal year 2016-17 totaled $1.35 billion.

That surpasses the numbers from the previous year by $12.7 million, a cool 4.8 percent.

Advocates of selling off the system will argue the revenue could be even higher for the state if we did not constantly lose sales to those who prefer to drive across the border to buy their booze seeking better prices, a wider selection and the convenience of one-stop shopping.

If Republicans want to sell off the system – something by the way we have consistently been in favor of – they will need to explain how they are going to replace that kind of annual revenue.

It should be before they offer a toast to the demise of the state store system.