12/09/2024
This is honestly ridiculous, and Sen. Bill DeMora should be ashamed for bringing it to the legislature.
A new proposed law in OH requires liquor agencies to open and reseal rare or hard-to-get bottles when purchased, essentially ruining their value on the secondary market.
To start with, you have to understand that OH is a control state and one of the most tightly controlled in the country. The state has set the price at which all bottles must be sold through a formula that is applied to every bottle. This ties the hands of retailers that may get these coveted bottles to sell them at a certain price. One reason that flippers love OH is because of this requirement.
While Sen. DeMora may be bitter that he did not get the bottle he wanted, he drops the real reason later in the article: "'The state loses sales tax and income tax because people are flipping these things and don’t report that income that they get from flipping it because it’s illegal activity,' DeMora said."
The state, because of its own rules, is losing money.
Enacting this law could have consequences. No distiller is required to ship to OH (and OH is already a pain to deal with in terms of getting product on the shelf). They could stop sending those bottles to the state altogether and distribute them elsewhere. People looking for rare bottles could go to other states to get them, also costing OH revenue.
And what bottles are considered rare? Last year, there was a shortage of Chartreuse due to the monks reducing their production. Would that have to be opened at the store? If there was a limited edition or seasonal flavor with a low availability, would that have to be opened at the store?
Plus, does OH have its act together so much that we are chasing down people flipping liquor?
Putting more restrictions on OH liquor laws, and the people who buy liquor, is a sure way to get them to buy less and see sources in other states.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A bill introduced at the Ohio Statehouse would require high-demand liquor bottles to be opened and resealed at the time they are sold, in an attempt to combat an illegal sec…
