I love the way people comment on things they no nothing about. First of all the state only owns about five stores, they lease all the rest, so much for raising millions of dollars from the sales of stores. Next , there is the fact that no tax payer dollars go to the ABC, they are totally self suffiecint and make millions that go to the state. As with any business they have operating cost, but the ABC is a thriving source of revenue for the state and very profitable, in the past five years the ABC has contributed 1.5 BILLION dollars to the general fund. For 2009 gross sales were 656.6 Million and increasing every year.
No matter how you do the math privitization can not generate that kind of revenue over the long term. Right now there is one ABC store per 28,000 residents and if you have one store for every three to five thousand, as perposed, there are still the same number of people that buy liqour, that just means less sales per store. That will really make people want to own a liqour store.
The ABC does a very fine job of handling a neccesary evil, it is kept low key, no flashy signs or run down stores on every corner( take a ride up 301 to Maryland ) Is that what we

What kind of sense does it make to raise the tax on liquor to pay to improve the roads. It seems to me that would encourage more drunk driving. Something no of us needs.

There are only 11 states with lower gas taxes, and our roads are horrible. Gas taxes are the fairest, most efficient way to raise revenue for our roads. If you drive more, and/or drive a heavier vehicle the more you contribute to congestion and maintenance costs. A user fee is the fairest tax there is, the more you use a government service, the more you pay. There is already a mechanism in place to collect the tax, the rate just needs to go up. Tolls cause more congestion, and liquor has nothing to do with roads. Even a 5 cent increase would go a long way. The politicians will attack anyone that suggests it, but it's fair, and if you have a 20 gallon tank, we're talking about paying $1 in additional taxes. Who can't afford that?

Increase the tax on all alcohol regardless of where it is sold, like they did with cigarettes.

But if the money is to go to a highways fund, MAKE SURE IT GOES THERE! States are notorious for diverting funds that are supposed to be dedicated to one thing in the general fund where the money gets lost. Then there's no benefit at all, just more money for our representatives to waste on other things. Highways in this state have got to have some priority if Virginia is to stay competitive and keep businesses and jobs here.

Good idea, but don't get carried away and allow hard liquor to be sold in retail grocery or convenience stores. Keep it a separate entity where it can be more easily monitored by local public authorities. The government will inevitably gain monetarily from such a divestiture.

McDonald wants to let his business buddies own the liquor stores so he is using the road crisis (can everybody say "never let a good crisis go to waste") to further his business backers. The money raised by letting McDopnald's buddies sell liquor would be a drop in the bucket for road funding. If McDonald gets his way, the state loses and business wins. Whether letting grocery stores and carry out sell liquor or not can be discussed; but using the current road crisis as a is misleading at best.

Will it give the Government more money to waste, just like other promises. Example: Lottery.

The Commonwealth should NOT be in ANY retail business, period. Talking about it along with transportation issues merely clouds the picture.

If they just kept there hands out of the dedicated funds collected we probably would not have a shortage. DMV fee's, Gasoline tax both City, State and Fed, personal property tax on vehicles, Toll's etc. Stop funding bike paths and bologna projects with these funds and concentrate on what keeps the gears of our machine turning.