ive never been to a bar that has drinks at anything other than $.25 intervals.
yeah, that’s my point…it’s not really gonna make a difference…people will go and spend and tip decently. When I buy drinks I usually give an extra dollar above what I owe…if I get two drinks. Which I will continue to so with the new tax in place. If I run a tab then I will still tip appon the total…so in turn the bartender will get more $$.
Very simple. I have a choice. I can choose to frequent establishments in Allegheny county, or i can frequent establishments in other counties. After January 1, i will no longer have dinner(or lunch) with drinks at an Allegheny county establishment. I have plenty of other choices, and i will use them. Fuck Onorato, and fuck PAT.
The county has been using property taxes to subsidize PAT. They want to move away from that, and use this new tax to fund PAT. Smart move politically for ole Danny boy…lets let visitors to PGH/Allegheny county help to subsidize peoples bus rides, instead of county residents. Sorry, not from me.
Here is a radical idea. If the TRUE cost of a bus ride is 5 bucks, then charge 5 bucks. I don’t see anyone kicking in to pay my gas bill to get to work.
That makes perfect sense…it won’t happen in Allegheny county.
I guess I am just looking at it from a different view point. Working as a bartender you see the trends with tipping when drinks are certain prices.
its things like this that get the Darkstar all riled up. Want dramatically lower taxes? Vote for Ron Paul motherfuckers.
I agree 100%. Most people who tip will tip with even paper money. So, as Whitey said, a beer is 2 bucks, i will hand the bartender 3 bucks and tell him/her to keep it(or i will leave a buck on the endge of the bar or tip glass. If that beer was $2.20, i am still handing over the 3 bucks, or putting the change on the bar or tip glass. Now this scenario isn’t going to be the same all the time, but it will be often enough that it will hurt people working their ass off just trying to make a buck.
This shit is typical of politicians…they just LOVE to tax alchohol and tobacco. They will keep right on doing it until people bitch long and loud and/or vote the pricks out.
BTW, Darkstar is right on the money about Ron Paul. Here is an exerpt from his website:
I have introduced H.R. 3664 in Congress to end this problem. The Tax Free Tips Act of 2007 will exempt tips from federal income and payroll taxes. Ending taxes on tips will give workers an immediate pay raise, letting them keep more money to put toward things like a house or car payment, their retirement, or their own and/or their children’s education.
When you give someone a tip, you should not have to simultaneously tip the federal government.
that fucking blows.
But you knew it was going to happen at some point. The surrounding counties look at Allegheny and say “if it works there, we’ll do it here”.
I know that nearly all politicians are corrupt bastards and we rightfully distrust them. Ron Paul however, has never voted to increases taxes. Not just this year, not just since 2000, NEVER.
He’s the only guy I will even consider voting for in the primary.
Where and how often do you bartend? I have a pretty good view of the bar business, considering my pap owned a bar for 20 years and my dad owned one as well…as well as my sister bartending. Talking to both of them it seems like it really wont make much of a difference and it will all even out. You will always have cheap tippers and good tippers and they will tip accordingly. The good tippers will give you a little extra (b/c of the uneven totals) and the cheap tippers give you a little less than normal b/c of the uneven totals. They also made a point that there are always uneven totals and typically if they are over $.50 then people typically add a $1 anyways. That is just their points of views…where between the both of them they have about 35-40 years of bartending experience between the both of them.
At the end of the day like I said before at first people will be pissed and go out less but that will only last for a short period of time. Like the no smoking law it works in many other large cities.
Maybe someday the politicians will look at ensuring that they are overspending OUR money on stupid things and reduce spending/taxes!
FTW
I just heard on the radio today that the drink tax may not be in place as long as we may think. Haven’t heard many details other than a report that Ed Rendell hasn’t been too strong in enforcing the drink tax in Philadelphia, going as far as saying they have been “passively enforcing the drink tax in many bars in Philly.”
I have been trying to find out more but nothing yet. Anyone else hear about this?
I heard one thing, I don’t buy drinks in Allegheny county anymore. I prefer to buy quality drinks and stay out of the crowded, dirty, smelly joints anyway, now I have a financial and moral reason.
Screw taxes, screw paying more money into public transportation (they already get money from our gas tax) and screw the corrupt Pittsburgh government.
Bump it up…
Someone with a little more political knowledge may educate me here…
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08269/914883-46.stm
So expectations have been exceeded, and so it’s proposed to be lowered to 7%… The goal has been reached, so why not eliminate it completely? Doesn’t really seem like he’s doing us any favors by lowering it, because it’s still in effect…
Because of that, Mr. Onorato, who said he will use this year’s excess drink tax revenues for infrastructure development and debt service, plans to trim the levy to 7 percent in his 2009 budget proposal, which he will present to County Council on Oct. 7.
And what exactly is “infrastucture development?”
I really don’t have a problem with the tax at all. If it is going to cost me an extra 40 cents for a beer, I seriously won’t even notice. If my understanding is correct, the funds are going to public transit, fixing roads, and other public services. The transit and roads are things that I use every day, so if they are going to make the roads better and keep the county out of debt, I could care less if my beer costs me 4.40 instead of 4.00. Just my opinion though.
Yeah, that’s how it works. :hsugh:
I dont have a problem with the tax either…
Honestly, if your a social drinker you wont even pay attention to the small change…you end up putting it in a tip anyways, so either way its money that was spent either way.
yes, it hurts the bartender bc they arent pulling in as much money as before, but if your a good bartender youll know to bust your butt a lil harder to sell more drinks…
I DO however have a problem with where the tax is going.
I do not think that an “alcohol” related tax should go to a “transit” problem.
If your going to complain about the drunk driving, the $ it costs to do speed traps and random road blocks, the police/fire/ems spending too much time cleaning up accidents and scrapping kids off the highways, dui costs and jail room for REPEAT offenders…then raise the tax bc of that.
if your at the bar everyday drinking up your paycheck…thats fine w/ me. you make the money you can spend it however you like…but when your too cheap to grab a taxi or call a friend and put some gas in his car and put myself and my freinds and family in danger by getting behind the wheel…then you should have to pay for it!
Theres too many dui’s and deaths in pa that are alcohol related.
if pat transit cant afford busses (which at $75/month pass i dont see how not) then let them worry about how to get funding. I remember when the transfers cost a quarter and the busses where PACKED! now its like $2+ and theres not enough people…hmmmmmm wonder why?
I think I’m missing something here. How is the “transit” problem related to someone too cheap to call a cab?
the same way a transit problem is related to alcohol…