Eliminating blue law will raise revenue without tax increase Re: “Montgomery County looks to sell booze on Sundays,” April 27
I am encouraged by recent comments made by Montgomery County Councilman Mike Knapp and Council President Nancy Floreen that Sunday alcohol sales can help alleviate the budget hole without taxing anyone. According to Knapp, Sunday alcohol sales could generate up to $2 million in new revenues annually simply by repealing an outdated Prohibition-era law that no longer makes sense in today’s society. Clearly, consumer demographics have changed since 1933. Sunday has become the second-busiest retail shopping day of the week.
As Montgomery County residents spend Sundays at malls, shopping for groceries and going to restaurants, spirits outlets remain closed for business. As a result, the county flushes much-needed tax revenue down the drain or forces Sunday shoppers into neighboring counties, literally giving our much-needed revenue to our neighbors.
Sunday alcohol sales certainly won’t erase our budget shortfall, but it’s $2 million that policymakers won’t have to raise in taxes or cut from already thin program budgets such as our schools. Such an innovative solution is exactly the kind of thinking I want to see from our policymakers during these tough times.
Monica Gourovitch
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=”text-align:> Even Cato admits immigration reform would help economy Re: “Will Dems ‘go for it’ on immigration reform?” April 23
Once again, Byron York shows his unprincipled brand of faux-conservatism. Before writing about how crazy the Democrats are for wanting to work on immigration reform when they should be “focused on jobs,” perhaps he should have read the Cato Institute’s report on the actual effects of immigration reform on the U.S. economy.
According to the report, legalization of low-skilled immigrant workers would yield significant income gains for American workers: A “positive impact for U.S. households of legalization under an optimal visa tax would be … $180 billion.” So of Mr. York’s five possible explanations for going after immigration reform at a time when jobs are so important, it turns out that Option 2 (“They are very smart and know something we don’t”) is actually true.
Perhaps Democrats are actually better conservatives than Mr. York and have read the Cato report on the subject.
Paaqua Grant
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