http://www.decanter.com/news/280605.html

The state of New York is to impose a 'floor tax' on all beer and wine
wholesalers and retailers.

The tax – due to come into effect on May 1 – will levy a charge on all
wine and beer held in stock, and, according to the New York State
Liquor Stores Board, charge 'at the rate of thirty-two and seven
hundredths cents per gallon based on inventory.'

It will affect all wine stores in the New York area, but will be
particularly punitive for companies such as Zachys, who have some of
the,largest stocks of old wines in the region. At the same time there
will be a rise in excise tax to 30c per gallon.

(more)

On Apr 21, 12:52*am, wrote:
> http://www.decanter.com/news/280605.html
>
> The state of New York is to impose a 'floor tax' on all beer and wine
> wholesalers and retailers.
>
> The tax – due to come into effect on May 1 – will levy a charge on all
> wine and beer held in stock, and, according to the New York State
> Liquor Stores Board, charge 'at the rate of thirty-two and seven
> hundredths cents per gallon based on inventory.'
>
> It will affect all wine stores in the New York area, but will be
> particularly punitive for companies such as Zachys, who have some of
> the,largest stocks of old wines in the region. At the same time there
> will be a rise in excise tax to 30c per gallon.
>
> (more)

The Decanter article is a little imprecise. What is happening is they
are raising the excise tax on May 1st to about $0.19/gallon to $0.30/
gallon. They are doing a one-time tax of inventory to bring all wine
up to having paid $0.30. So retailers will have to pay $0.11/gallon on
inventory, I think that's about 27 cents a case. While Zachys and
other big stores will have the largest total bill, my guess is that it
will be hardest on the warehouse type stores that stock large amounts
of jug wine etc- 27 cents doesn't make much difference with a case of
1996 LLC, but it does with Barefoot Cellars or Almaden.I'm assuming
lots of sales next 2 weeks