By Brian Shlonsky

Some liquor stores have seen a recent increase in sales as people stocked up in preparation for a state alcohol and cigarette tax hike that goes into effect Wednesday.

The new tax applies Kentucky’s six percent sales tax to all alcoholic beverages and will double the state tax on cigarettes from 30 to 60 cents per pack.

Shoppers Village Liquors manager Ross Barrett said that sales have increased at his store as people stocked up before the taxes hit.“Many of our regulars have been loading up on the products they normally buy and have continued to buy their normal stuff,” said Barrett.  “Some will buy cheaper brands of beers and whiskeys, but we haven’t seen a decrease in the brands people normally buy.”

Senior Steven Thomason bought some extra bottles of liquor before the tax went into effect.  “After I heard about the alcohol tax, I started buying an extra bottle of whatever I was getting at the time, so now I’m stocked for a while,” Thomason said.

However, not all students felt the need to increase their alcohol purchases right before the tax increase.

“The increase isn’t enough to make me go out and stock up for the tax,” said junior Bond Milburn.  “I probably will continue to buy what I normally get, and the extra couple of dollars shouldn’t make that much of a difference.”

Scotty White, manager of Mike’s Warehouse Liquors, has not seen an increase due to people stocking up before the tax.

“There have been a few people that bought a little extra, but nothing serious,” White said.

Mike’s Liquors does not expect to see a decrease in sales once the taxes have hit either.

“It’s like gas prices, it doesn’t really matter,” White said.  “If people want to drink, they’ll pay for alcohol and if people want to smoke, they’ll pay for cigarettes.  They may downgrade the products they buy from premium to regular, from a Bud to a Natural Light, but they will continue to buy.”

Coliseum Liquors has seen a large drop in cigarette sales since the first round of tobacco taxes hit and now expects cigarette sales to drop significantly more than alcohol sales with the new taxes in place.

“We won’t really know what’s going on with the alcohol sales until after the taxes have been in place for a while, but judging by what has already happened with cigarettes I expect their sales to decrease again,” manager Shirish Patel said.

“A lot of customers have been coming in the last few weeks and asking what our cheapest cigarettes are, which are Kentucky’s Best,” Patel said.  “90 percent of our business is college students, many of who don’t have jobs, so they have tried to cut costs by quitting smoking.”

Junior Stacie Kushner is one of those students who have kicked the habit in part because of the high tobacco taxes.

“I’ve been smoking for two years, and since I’ve started cartons of cigarettes have almost doubled in price,” Kushner said.  “$100 a month to spend on cigarettes is not realistic for me.”