Sunday Liquor Sales

It has been a staple of legislative sessions going back for years. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States finds some sympathetic legislators to introduce a bill to allow the Sunday sale of alcohol in the state. Then the Connecticut Package Stores Association finds its own sympathetic legislators to kill the bill — usually in committee before it ever reaches most lawmakers. This year, something has changed. A determined governor has jumped into the debate with both feet.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy proposed, January 14, a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s liquor laws, which he believes stifle competition and both inconvenience consumers and saddle them with inflated prices. Adding Sunday sales of wine, beer, and liquor is just part of the package. The governor is also proposing changes in the hours bars and restaurants are allowed to sell alcohol, the kinds of products that may be sold in package stores, and rules governing the licensing of retail liquor outlets. Though the proposals were presented as a boon to both businesses and consumers, the governor was also clearly interested in the benefits for the state’s own balance sheet. The governor’s office has released estimates, based on industry data, that suggest that the state stands to collect an extra $6.4 million to $11.2 million in annual tax revenue.

Connecticut stands with Indiana as the last holdouts with total bans on Sunday liquor sales, perhaps the most widely felt of vestigial blue laws first enacted in the 18th Century to enforce various moral and religious standards. Most of these laws have been repealed or rendered moot over the centuries. Yet the state has maintained laws requiring strict price controls and restrictions on business hours largely through the efforts of package store owners, whose business benefits from compressing a week’s worth of consumer demand into six days of operation.

We cannot vouch for the projected tax benefits to the state; it seems that most revenue projections from the public sector fall short these days. But we do wonder why state government is still so deeply involved in this particular slice of the retail sector. Beyond enforcement of the legal age restrictions on the sale of alcohol, state government should dial back its role in the marketplace as far as it can while still upholding its obligations to public safety. Just as it would be overreaching to compel merchants to work on Sundays, it has been an equal breach of private prerogatives to compel a select complement of business men and women to close their doors for a day of rest. Each business owner should get to decide how best to compete, how best to boost the bottom line, how best to serve its particular clientele, and especially when to work and when not to.