2007-03-17
Smoking Ban in Independence
Hopefully this spreads! I might have to start going out in Independence more. Though I only really go to bars in Kansas City so I still have to deal with stinky nasty smoke when I go out or play shows.
The Examiner ran an article on their website today (that I won't like too since you have to register to read it) but here's a quote:
"I'm gonna lose 10 to 12 percent of business because of the ban"
- Thomas Norsworthy, president of KRM, Inc. owner of 54th Street Grill and Bar
This piece interviewed another bar owner that also predicted a loss of business. There were no citations or even methodologies of calculating the prediction. So I started doing some digging:
- In Boston tax receipts for meal went up 9% in the year after their smoking ban (Boston Globe)
- In Minneapolis overall revenues were up after a smoking band (Minneapolis Public Radio)
- "A smoking ban in Fayetteville hasn't significantly changed the amount of hotel, motel, restaurant or sales taxes collected" (The Morning News (AK))
In reading a bunch of articles it seems that the common theme is alcohol sales going down slightly and food sales going up slightly. The real benefit will be when Medicaid/Medicare payments for smoking related diseases go down and the taxes taken out of our paychecks get smaller.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
