Liquor Board Shelves Fee Increases on Booze, Wine

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Thursday shelved a plan to increase the handling fees that it levies on manufacturers of liquor and wine.

The board said it would impose a six-month moratorium on any increase in the fee and any price increases proposed by distilleries and wineries.

Last week, Gov.-elect Tom Corbett sharply criticized the timing of the increase scheduled to take effect Jan. 4 -- two weeks before he takes office. The spokesman for Corbett's transition team praised the board's Thursday action.

“This is a wise decision by the (board) and it's a victory for consumers,” spokesman Kevin Harley said.

Officials said the fee increases, which vendors could absorb or pass onto consumers, varied from 15 cents for a 50-milliliter bottle of liquor to $1.15 for a three-liter bottle of wine.

Board officials said the increase was part of a broader strategy to shore up profits from liquor and wine sold at the more than 600 state stores, which pumped $482 million in taxes and other revenue into the state treasury in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Corbett, a Republican who currently is state attorney general, has called for getting Pennsylvania out of the liquor and wine business.

He advocates liquidating the state stores and selling wholesale and retail licenses to private businesses to raise a projected $2 billion. The private operators would continue to collect state taxes on their sales.