Op-Ed: Initiative 1183 Is Kind of a Big, Corporate Mess, but it Won't Be That Tragic if it Passes
Seattlest Staffers don't always agree on the big issues. Today, Dikla and Sarah will be offering differing op-eds about I-1183, the initiative that would privatize liquor in Washington State.
Okay, Washington. You had your chance, but you voted down I-1100, a flawed but fixable liquor-privatization initiative backed by wholesale giant Costco. Now they're back, and they've taken their previous opposition's input and scare tactics and turned it into this big, hulking monster of corporate tax loopholes. Are you happy now? I didn't think so. But now that we're all lying in this horrible bed we made. This is the privatization initiative we're stuck with, and this is why I may fill in the "yes" bubble, as much as it breaks my heart.
This Doesn't Mean We Can't Make It Better. This gives an initial framework for alcohol deregulation, but a future initiative or future legislation could tweak this one.
It Doesn't Drain Our State's Coffers. Make no mistake, taxes lie in the wrong place here: on the people and on private distributors. Consumers won't notice much a difference in price with taxes really, though, and while this tax structure is not ideal, at least this experiment won't break us. Of course Costco wrote themselves out of the taxes--they wrote the initiative. But this has taught us that it's possible to write a privatization initiative that, instead of losing income, gains it. If this one doesn't pass, at least we know it's possible to deregulate without a huge hit to the state's budget. Perhaps a future initiative could tax Costco instead of us.
Restricting Access to Alcohol has Never Kept Teens from Drinking. Some studies show that underage drinking increases with regulation, others show that it doesn't. Regardless, looking at other states, we're not facing some teen party apocalypse here. Making it harder for kids to legally be near alcohol only increases its mystique, and even if underage drinking decreases, I feel it leads to more irresponsible use.
I Really, Really Want to See What Kind of Booze PCC, Madison Market, Ballard Market and Metropolitan Market Will Have. What about our dear, independent and bourgie grocers and co-ops that meet the size limit of 10,000 square feet? Will Metropolitan Market have a free sample of the fancy, overpriced whiskey of my dreams? Will Madison Market and PCC buy local? These are the questions that give me hope as I lie awake at night pining for a boutique liquor store. Note: because of the "Mini-Mart Loophole," which I actually love, that allows licenses for smaller businesses when no qualifying store is available in their trade area, this could make small town liquor shopping more interesting.
Speaking of the Mini-Mart Loophole, This Doesn't Mean There's Going to be Booze at Every Goddamn Small Town 7-11. There will be a public input period before a license is granted, just like when anyone else applies for a spirits license. Even if it did, you may notice that California has not yet exploded.
Naysayers of Deregulation Could Take it The Wrong Way if it Doesn't Pass. Add "the people voted it down three times" to this wild teen drinking rhetoric. Some (including our commenters) are already using the rejection of I-1100 and I-1105 last year as evidence that we don't want privatization, ignoring that the measures last year were costly and, because there were two, confusing. Olympia will likely be scared to touch it, much like what's going on in Pennsylvania right now. Deregulation initiatives, the more we turn down, will likely be harder to pass in the future.
The question here is: will it be harder to pass a different privatization initiative, or harder to pass a new tax structure on liquor that doesn't favor corporations as much? It's possible that it's the latter -- big business is on both sides of I-1183, including distributors. If this passes, we can at least change the conversation about privatization to what's best for the state, instead distracting horror stories of the dangers of alcohol.
If it doesn't, I have my fingers crossed for another privatization measure, one that doesn't place an unfair tax burden on distributors, individuals and small business, next year. Third election's the charm, right?
