Though State College Borough Council President Elizabeth Goreham called a 10 percent tax on poured alcoholic drinks her "dream tax" Monday, Café 210 West co-owner J.R. Mangan said the tax would be "devastating."
"I think it's her dream tax, not mine," said Mangan, who has owned the 210 W. College Ave. landmark for about three months. "We would obviously have to adjust our prices to help out with the difference."
A tax levied solely in the borough of State College and not in Centre County at large is unfair to students, Mangan added. And other borough bar owners, he said, likely share his opinion.
"With liability insurance and all the other expenses involved with running a business like this, the margin of profit is getting narrower and narrower," he said. "That would really, I feel, be too much."
Goreham's proposal is similar to the 7 percent poured drinks tax currently in effect in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh.
The Allegheny County Council originally voted for a 10 percent drink tax in August 2007, but lowered the rate to 7 percent on Dec. 4, 2008, after the measure brought in more revenue than originally anticipated, Council Member Michael Finnerty said.
The drink tax has not negatively affected Pittsburgh-area bars and restaurants in a visible way, said Kevin Evanto, a spokesman for Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.
"We're bringing in more than we anticipated, which tells us that the tax is not having an effect on alcohol sales," he said. "The best example is our experience."
Pittsburgh and State College are similar communities in that both house universities, Finnerty said.
"I think that it would probably help the residents more than it helps the college students," he said of the State College proposal. "Being that students don't have as great a financial pot to pick from, it would hurt them in that regard."
Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald also said the drink tax has not had a negative effect on bars' and restaurants' revenues.
"For people that went out to the bar ... I don't think an extra dollar on a $10 bar bill was so much of a disincentive that people didn't go out," he said. "We just haven't seen a real drop on people going out."
State College Mayor Bill Welch said the current borough push for a drink tax is linked to efforts the council initiated in November 2006, when the idea of a drink tax was also floated.
"It ebbs and flows depending on the tides in Harrisburg," he said. "The borough -- and all municipalities -- have a pretty limited range of options for taxation made available to them. We explore what we can."
One local bar owner said State College's experience with a potential drink tax would be similar to Pittsburgh's.
State College bar maven Tony Sapia, who owns Lulu's Nightspot, Tony's Big Easy and Candy Bar and Lounge, said the drink tax is a fair way of gathering revenue for the borough.
Sapia's bars have been in the spotlight recently, as his Sammark, Inc. liquor license has been challenged by the PLCB.
"Whatever [Goreham has] got planned, it's in the best interest of the borough, and I'm all for that," Sapia said. "Anything to help the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board do their job. It's something we can look forward to."
