Archive for February, 2006
Rendell opposes direct shipments
February 20th, 2006
Pennsylvania Governor Rendell wants to “maintain the state system” where consumers that order out of state wine must pick them up at a state-controlled liquor store. In this system, consumers must pay an 18 % state tax, a 6% sales tax, and a $4.50 handling fee. The governor’s office claims that this is necessary to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.
We’ve refuted this argument in the past, but I love the way that Bill Nelson of Wine America puts it: “That’s just a colossal lie…The minors thing has been debunked in all the other states that have direct shipping.”
MA Congress overrides Romney veto, court challenge likely
February 20th, 2006
The Massachusetts House and Senate overrode a veto by Governor Milt Romney , writing into law a bill that will allow small farm wineries that produce less than 30,00 gallons per year to ship directly to consumers. It also allows residents to take home bottles of wine purchased at restaurants if the restaurant re-corks the bottle.
This ruling will likely face a court challenge from consumer and industry groups because it treats small wineries differently than medium and large wineries.
Do these “small farm winery” bills make sense? With these new rules, states are treating out-of-state wineries and in-state wineries evenly and are technically probably compliant with Granholm, but different sized wineries now get separate sets of rules. This doesn’t seem sustainable.
Part of the argument for small farm bills is that the small wineries can not afford the three-tier distribution system. This is true, but it’s not the point. MA is now protecting both small wineries and distributors when they should instead let the market forces play out. This will lead to more choices for consumers as well as lower prices.
Competing bills in Kentucky
February 18th, 2006
Two competing bills are alive in Kentucky, but neither are very favorable for wineries. One that made it out of state House committee would only allow onsite sales for small farm wineries. The second made it through the state Senate and would force all wineries to use wholesalers.
Florida officially opens
February 17th, 2006
In a letter to the Wine Institute yesterday, Simone Marstiller, Secretary of Florida�s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, announced that out-of-state wineries can officially make wine shipments into the state of Florida.
In August, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled in the case of Bainbridge, et al. v. Turner that Florida’s wine shipping laws were unconsitutional. Since then, the Wine Institute recommended that California wineries should not ship wine into Florida until more permanent regulations were established. However, in a memo to members yesterday, Wine Institute President Bobby Koch gave the official green light to wineries to ship into Florida. You can see a copy of this memo here.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation – Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco issued a special memo for out-of-state wineries on their website. Click here to view the memo. Here are a few highlights from the new rules:
- Sales/Use Tax: “Sales and use tax must be paid to the Florida Department of Revenue by consumers for any wine purchased from out of state entities.”
- Excise Tax: “Excise tax must be paid to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation by wineries who sell wine directly to consumers in Florida. The report of all sales from wineries and the applicable excise taxes must be submitted to the DBPR Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco by the 10th of the month for any sales made in the previous month.” Click here to view the excise tax form.
- Reporting: Wineries must also submit a schedule of shipments made into Florida with the excise tax form. Click here to see the reporting form.
Small farm winery bill passes Arizona Senate committee
February 17th, 2006
Three wine shipping bills were proposed in Arizona, and one made it out of the Senate committee. This bill would allow small farm wineries that produce less then 50,000 gallons each year to make offsite shipments of wine to Arizona consumers.
The Arizona distributors, of course, are pulling out all the stops to prohibit direct shipments and stifle free trade. Their argument, which he have heard in every single state, is that they want to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.
That argument just doesn’t fly anymore. States have a number of measures that they can use to prevent sales to minors. Distributors just want to protect their state-mandated monopolies, which hurt small wineries and consumers.
Read more about the new bill here.
