Start the tally

Here it is - January 7th, 2008 and the light bulb went off. I’m sitting at Mad Mex and it struck me…

I’m a pretty ordinary guy from Monroeville, Pennsylvania who works in the city of Pittsburgh at an ad agency. I have a wife and two kids (and one more on the way, thank you). To get the standard crap out of the way, when I’m not chasing my kids around the yard, I ski, run, mountain bike, read history & politics, and watch TV. I enjoy cooking, eating out, and spending QT with my friends & family. Pretty normal dude.

And oh, by the way, I drink. Nothing truly crazy. But I enjoy beer and maybe a martini now and then. Honestly… it’s just part of who I am… like the rest of you. I go out on occasion, whether for a family dinner or with my buddies, and when I do, I tend to have a couple drinks. On Steeler Sunday’s… maybe more than couple of drinks. And for work – I have to take clients out– as well as the occasional happy hour with fellow employees.

My point is this… I think I’m a pretty average guy.

Sooo… let’s see what Dan Onorato’s ridiculous and unnecessary drink tax cost me over the next 12 months. If you are from Pittsburgh, you know the drink tax I’m talking about. Then, we can all determine if this is a net gain for people like me… or a net loss. Like I said, I feel that I’m and average suburban Pittsburgh guy with a fairly robust social life and a career that requires client entertainment.

Let’s see what happens when I plunk down the credit card or drop cash at local bars and eateries over the next year. Then, you can determine how my lifestyle compares to yours… and it might be possible for each Pittsburgher to see what this tax actually costs them. My guess… if you are young (or relatively young), have any social and/or professional life, you will see that this tax rips hundreds of dollars out of your pocket during the course of the year.

The ground rules are simple – I’m only going to tally my expenditures (what comes out of my pocket) for alcohol bought at bars & restaurants in order to determine the 10% drink tax that has been added to my life. I will subtract out food – so we are only talking about booze. Note – that will include both personal and business expenses. I will not keep track of what other people spend when they buy me drinks – just the receipts I sign for and/or the cash that I drop. That’s it.

At the end of the year, I would ask two things (1) how much has the drink tax cost me and people like me, and (2) is it worth it. You can make the call. Then, you can determine if you want to vote out of office the jerks that decided to impliment such a system.

Sooo… let’s start. It’s January 7th and I bought my first drinks at a bar. I had a couple beers at home up to this point and enjoyed a good buzz while attending a Steeler party on Saturday – but these are the first drinks I bought at an establishment outside of the home.

Location: Mad Mex (Monroeville)
Event: My buddy Quinn is in from Denver – I only see him a couple times of year. It’s only the two of us. We hang out and watch the BCS championship. LSU wins. Yawn.
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $41.15
Tax Spent: $4.11
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $4.11
PAT Usage: 0