Another Public Hearing Set for Council Small Business Tax Bill

A two-percent increase on the sale of liquor has city business owners concerned about their customers going to other cities and towns to make purchases, crippling their sales.

A Boston City Council meeting was held last week on the proposal that owners feel is going to hurt them.

Counselors, President William Linehan and Frank Baker have filed a measure that will levy a two-percent tax on all alcohol sales, which they claimed would generate $20 million for substance abuse treatment and prevention programs.

The hearing came on the heels of the state planning to deal with in opiate addiction crisis. In addition, Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s has issued a report compiled by Blue Cross/Blue Shield that calls for more detox beds in the city.

The report will be used as a reference for the city’s newly created Office of Recovery.

Some business owners believe they will lose up to one-third of sales if the tax is approved, others feel that it would force them to move out of Boston or create bankruptcy.

The tax proposal is a home-rule petition. It needs City Council, the Mayor and the State Legislature approval to be enacted.

Linehan hopes to put it to a Council vote this summer and to the Legislature by fall.

            Another public meeting will be held before the bill goes before the Council for a vote.