Governor to veto Calhoun County liquor tax bill

Gov. Robert Bentley will veto a bill that would raise liquor taxes in Calhoun County to fund its district attorney's office, apparently dooming similar bills for Talladega and other counties.

Still, Calhoun and several counties with similar proposals could throw their weight behind a statewide liquor tax increase.

Both the House and the Senate last month passed a bill that would raise taxes on liquor sold at Alcoholic Beverage Control stores in Calhoun County by 5 percent. The bill would generate about $300,000 per year for the local district attorney's office, where officials say money collected through court costs brought around $600,000 less than expected last year.

The Calhoun County bill seems to have sparked a cascade of similar bills in other counties. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Randy Wood proposed an identical tax for Talladega County.

An attorney in the governors office said they  determined that the Calhoun County bill violated the Alabama Constitution of 1901. He said recent court rulings have declared that counties that receive money from a statewide tax on liquor sales can't act on their own to increase liquor taxes locally.

He said the governor planned to veto the tax and had already sent a draft of a veto statement, explaining his reasons for the veto, to Wood.