A. Barton Hinkle on Ending State Monopolies on Liquor Sales

Virginia made a big mistake four years ago when
it failed to end the state’s monopoly on liquor sales, and its
residents are going to pay the price for that — again.

Opponents of privatization argued that national big-box
retailing chains would gobble up all the liquor licenses, leaving
none for anyone else — and that seedy, low-rent liquor stores would
sprout on every corner like weeds after a spring rain. They fretted
that taxes on consumption could never hope to make up for lost ABC
profits — and that liquor consumption would skyrocket. They argued
that liquor was vile, nasty stuff — and therefore Virginia ought to
be the one to sell it, which, as A. Barton Hinkle observes, makes
as much sense as state-run sales of cigarettes or porn.

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