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May 13, 2008 9:50 pm US/Eastern
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Treasury Agents Hired To Collect Drink Tax
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
Allegheny County's 10 percent drink tax has been in effect for about six months.
About 95 percent of bar and restaurant owners are paying it, but what about the 5 percent who are not?
The county has hired three so-called treasury agents to go out and enforce the tax, but that's not sitting well with the Restaurant Owners Association.
The agents carry badges, but the county insists they're not law enforcement officers and they're not meant to intimidate.
Every day now, Frank Bruckner drops in on bars and restaurants throughout the county who haven't yet paid the tax on alcohol.
Bruckner and two others were hired by County Treasurer John Weinstein says they don't have arrest powers and should not be mistaken for law enforcement officers.
Weinstein says agents are simply county employees providing a service to the bar and restaurant owners by explaining the tax and their obligation to pay it.
"I have received no complaints from anyone. It's actually been positive, it's been very positive that they've been appreciating the helpfulness," Weinstein said.
But the hiring of three agents at $38,000 a year to collect this tax is heavy-handed, according to Jeff Cohen, the head of the Bar and Restaurant Association, who says Weinstein doesn't have the right to hire them law enforcement officers.
Sheehan: "Well he says they're not law enforcement people."
Cohen: "Well if they have badges and they say 'treasury agent' on them, then that's what the perception would be is that they are agents."
But at Crystal's Bar and Restaurant in the Strip District, Owner Crystal Joseph says she has had no problem with Bruckner.
Sheehan: "Do you feel intimidated?"
Joseph: "At first I did until I sat down and talked to him a little bit. And he doesn't intimidate me anymore and he's been very very helpful."
Against her will, Joseph has decided to cut Bruckner a check and pay her three-month delinquency on the drink tax in full. In doing so, she doesn't blame Bruckner but rather County Executive Dan Onorato.
"Dan you gotta get rid of the drink tax. Help us out - small business owners and people just trying to make a living. You're killing us with the drink tax," she said.
At $38,000 a year, Weinstein says the treasury agents have already paid for themselves.
The county collected $10 million in drink taxes in the first quarter of the year and the agents have personally collected close to $150,000 of that.
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