On WCCO Channel 4’s Reality Check with Pat Kessler on August 14, 2019, he points out that after 2 years of Sunday Off-Sale, tax revenues have not increased nearly what the supporters of the bill said they would. Proponents claimed that alcohol tax revenues would increase $10 to $15 million per year. The actual increases were closer to $3.6 million, which is at or below the annual revenue increases for the past 10 years before Sunday Off-Sale!
Just as we told legislators and media for the dozens of years we opposed Sunday Off-Sale, the sales of alcohol at off-sale have remained the same over 7 days of sales as they were over 6 days. But now independent retailers have 7 days of expenses.
Now that the ‘experiment’ has failed, are we going to hear calls for going back to having Sunday as a day of rest to give small independent retailers a chance to retrieve lost revenues?
Click here for the WCCO Reality Check article.