San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom followed through on his word Tuesday when he vetoed the city’s plan to charge an alcohol tax to cover the care for chronic drunks.

The feel good idea by San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos to place a tax on alcohol in an effort to cover city costs resulting from alcohol abuse was preliminary approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week.


From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The proposal would have levied a fee on wholesalers and distributors equal to about 3 cents for a 12-ounce bottle of beer, 4.5 cents for a 6-ounce glass of wine and 3.5 cents for 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. Those fees were expected to generate $16 million a year to pay for many of the expenses the cash-strapped city incurs for unreimbursed hospital care, ambulance transport, prevention programs and a sobering center. Even with the backing of Supervisor David Campos, who was absent for Tuesday’s 6-3 vote but supports the legislation, the measure would fall one vote short of the eight needed to override a mayoral veto.

Newsom contends the fee would hurt jobs and be illegal, treading on the state’s authority to regulate alcohol.

“You don’t help the city’s general fund by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lawsuit we’re going to lose,” Newsom said.

Read the full story here.