The mayors of the state’s three largest cities are calling on the General Assembly and Gov. M. Jodi Rell to lift the ban on Sunday liquor sales in Connecticut.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez in a statement Wednesday said that repealing the “blue law” would increase the state’s revenues that could be used to save critical government programs.
“If our legislators simply lifted this antiquated ban on Sunday alcohol sales, our financially struggling state could stop bleeding business,” Finch said, “and sending tax revenue to stores in neighboring states.”
Asked for a reaction from the governor, Rell spokesman Adam Liegeot responded simply: “The governor is not a proponent of Sunday sales.”
The mayors issued their statement after reviewing a report released recently by the state’s Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee. The report, “Connecticut’s Economic Competitiveness in Selected Areas,” states that within a year of lifting the ban the state could see an approximately $5 million increase in sales tax revenue from liquor sales and up to $3.1 million annually in excise tax revenues.
The additional revenue could have “the power to save vital programs that are currently on the chopping block,” DeStefano said. Perez called a repeal of the Sunday liquor sales ban a “common sense move in this competitive business climate.”