Petition Would Force Allegheny County Drink Tax To BallotOnorato Will Debate Hospitality Business Owners On Controversial FeePOSTED: 1:23 pm EDT May 22,
2008 PITTSBURGH -- Allegheny County residents can join businesses in an effort to scale back the county's 10 percent tax on poured alcoholic drinks.Video: What Does The Tax Fund?The drink tax, along with a $2-a-day rental car tax, was brought about to help fund the county's annual subsidy of the Port Authority public transit agency.But according to WTAE Channel 4's news exchange partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Onorato is thinking about using some extra money from those taxes to fund road and bridge projects in the future."This unfair tax was never about saving mass transit, it was meant to shore up a huge deficit in Allegheny County’s general operating fund due to mismanagement," the F.A.C.T. Web site stated."This is hurting people's livelihoods," said Tom Baron, president of the Big Burrito restaurant group. "Our industry has been targeted. We are feeling the effects from it."Treasurer: County Taxes To Increase AnywayCounty Treasurer John Weinstein said the two new taxes are on pace to raise about $40 million this year. Originally, it was believed they would raise about $31 million.Act 44, the state transportation bill that enabled the county to enact those taxes, may be somewhat open for interpretation by Onorato."I interpret it myself as that they can take that money, as long as they're using it for transportation purposes," said state Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Monroeville, who chairs the House Transportation Committee.County Councilman Charles McCullough, R-Upper St. Clair, has suggested cutting the drink tax to 5 percent in June and eliminating it in January.Onorato said he would not consider doing that until the county talks about budgeting in the fall. He has repeatedly said that raising property taxes is the only alternative to the drink tax."I don’t think too many people change their plans and say, 'I'm not going to have a glass of wine with dinner because there's a drink tax on it.' They go ahead and have a glass of wine," Markosek said.Related Links: More County News Get RSS Headlines | Free Desktop Alert Copyright 2008 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |











