Pittsburgh Drink Tax

Pittsburgh Drink Tax General Info

Our lovely city/county has just passed a 10% drink tax on any drink poured, uncorked, uncapped or served at a bar.

This 10% Allegheny County drink tax will take an estimated $35,000,000 - $50,000,000 from restaraunt, tavern and stadium patrons.

Not to mention this tax increase is going to fund the Port Authority in Pittsburgh.

Check out the bus schedule, if you even know where to find one. On a Saturday night the bus that would take me the 6 blocks from the bar to my house stops running at 12:45am. A cab home costs over $8, plus a $2 tip for the cab driver. That is a total cost of $10 for a 5 minute trip across the Bloomfield Bridge.

Remember when England imposed a tea tax on our forefathers? We threw their tea into the ocean.

We can't exactly dress up like 'Native Americans' anymore to fool them, but maybe they'll get the point that we won't stand for their arbitrary taxes.

When a beer that costs $2.00 goes up to $2.25, the dollar that the patron would leave for a tip turns into $0.75. When you figure that the local bartenders make somewhere between $20 - $60 a night, a $0.25 tip decrease per drink/beer makes a huge impact on people trying to make a living. A $60 tip night at $1 a drink tip, turns into $45 dollars after this tax. That is, of course, assuming that people tip $1 per drink...

I'm sure our beloved County Commissioner, Dan Onorato took the time to think about all the people that rely on those tips to put SpaghettiOs® on their table for dinner every night before he signed his name to this tax.

Allegheny County Local Government Info:

Here's the county website: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/

Here's the email address of the guy that's personally responsible for this tax: d.onorato@gmail.com

Here's the phone number to his office as well: (412) 350-6500

To and talk live on the radio to our county commissioner: Thursday, December 13 - KDKA Radio AM 1020 - 10:00 a.m. Phone Number: 412-575-2455