Closing Time: Unwinding North Carolina’s ABC System
CAROLINA FORWARD
North Carolina's state government holds a near-complete monopoly today on the sale of liquor. Our state's Alcohol Beverage Control system is a relic of the Prohibition Era, almost a century old - and no longer serves North Carolina very well. The government does not manage the liquor business very effectively; it carries large costs for taxpayers; and as we've seen quite recently, the ABC is a major target for endemic and nefarious political corruption.
So what should be done?
The reality is that abolishing the ABC overnight would likely cause more problems than it would solve. Instead, we propose a gradual "unwinding" of North Carolina's ABC system: getting the government mostly out of the liquor business itself and loosening consumer-facing restrictions, while maintaining some basic oversight of the industry.
This should include divesting of the state-owned liquor warehouse in Raleigh, regionalizing and privatizing distribution, letting the market decide what products to offer or not, and allowing more independent retailers into the space.
