The tax was meant to be a bailout for the piss poor way that PATransit is run… How does that have anything to do with DUIs and repeat offenders? I’m not trying to be a dick I just didn’t understand the argument.
its cool, im just saying if your going to bother taxing alcohol…it should go to related alcohol problems such as dui and paying for jail room for the repeat ofenders/ rehab, ect., not someone taking the bus.
Shit if thats the case, PAT should just extend its hours past 10pm and be available to take home all the drunks…then it would be tax well spent.
had the vote gone the other direction, anyone paying property tax would be paying to bailout PAT.
something completely unrelated and not fair to the taxpayer, yet again.
my point was if your going to bother taxing something as such…the $ should go to something related to the problem.
it has nothing to do with the drink tax. this girl is an idiot. i don’t know how many times we have to read the same sermon over and over again.
Fuck pat transit… .you poor pieces of crap can walk for all i care.
I have 2 cars. F U
steal a moped or something
:kekegay:
its a good thing though…think how much parking would be up to if everyone drove to work in the downtown area…
and PAT is used for city school buses…im curious…anyone know how much they pay for a bus pass? do they get PITT discount like the college kids? or do they ride full price/free?
Pitt students ride for free.
I guess i can assume that the city kids do too.
well thats your cost problem right there.
1 bus costs about 300,000 dollars . When a transfer cost a .25 how much did fuel cost ?
its not for free its included in their tuition!! So even the commuters who drive and pay for parking pay that per semester!
Ed Zackary
I say keep the tax I just got a job at pat keep that money rolling in !!! lol
down with you!
lol no but I hate seeing a new tax like this! what else are they going to tax next? they always seem to find something or someone to tax and its B.S.
-1 for Allegheny County
I did an install today for a PAT driver. I asked him if there was a contract yet and he said “No.” He shed some light on the subject, saying that PAT needed $27 mil, but somehow only managed to get $24 mil from the state. The drink tax/rental car tax was enacted to pay this $27 million. He said the drink tax/rental tax has already brought in way more than the $27 million that was needed. So if the money has already been made, why hasn’t it been paid? Ironically, the guy said that the Union pushed them to vote for Onorato.
What gets me is the bars now being published for not paying this tax, when the person who initiated the law is withholding that same money from its intended purpose.
Why is it OK for one entity to actively and publicly refuse to make a payment required by law, but not OK for another?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08276/916724-46.stm
Naming restaurants that owe drink tax pays off, treasurer says
Thursday, October 02, 2008
By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Within a few hours of publishing a list of 44 restaurants and bars that have refused or failed to comply with Allegheny County’s 10 percent drink tax yesterday, county Treasurer John Weinstein got a visit from the proprietor of Mahoney’s Restaurant, Downtown.
“He rushed in here with a check and paid up all the four months that he owed,” Mr. Weinstein said. That is the reaction he was going for, he said, when he published the list of scofflaws on the county’s Web site: www.alleghenycounty.us/treasure/AlcoholTax/Delinquent-Weblist.pdf.
“It’s not so much about shaming the offenders, but to let the public know that these establishments are collecting the drink tax, and yet they are not paying what they owe,” he said, adding that the noncompliant restaurateurs and bar owners account for about $500,000 in uncollected drink tax revenues.
By publicizing the scofflaws, much the same way the state does with businesses that don’t pay the state sales tax, Mr. Weinstein said, he has started a process that could see the county file suit against all of the offenders in Common Pleas Court. The county would seek to attach a civil judgment or collection notice against their state-issued liquor licenses.
The controversial drink tax, which was approved by County Council in December as part of a dedicated funding stream for mass transit, is the subject of a legal challenge that could go all the way to the state Supreme Court.
Attorneys for a group of restaurant and bar owners who oppose the levy and want to reduce it to 0.5 percent through a referendum will make oral arguments in Commonwealth Court on Monday in an effort to get their referendum question on the November ballot.
So far, the drink tax, which is paid monthly and is due on the 25th of the succeeding month, has yielded about $25 million in revenue from about 98 percent of the 2,200 eligible liquor license holders complying.
Mr. Weinstein said his collection efforts seem to be paying off. Since he announced his plans to publish the list of scofflaws, 11 of them contacted his office to settle their debts. As of yesterday, Mahoney’s Restaurant, 949 Liberty Ave., became the 12th establishment to settle its unpaid debt for the months of March, June, July and August.
Officials at the restaurant couldn’t be reached for comment.
According to the treasurer’s office, some of the delinquent businesses paid the tax earlier in the year but are not paying now and others have never paid it.
Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719.
First published on October 2, 2008 at 12:00 am
jays mt royal bar and jays other place is owned by the same person.
thats a big check!!!
grown sexy? wtf…i would not visit that bar.