Gordon: Package Stores and The Black Market Tax

*This story was originally published in a 2009 “Oxford SO & SO.”
By Ralph Gordon
Daddy liked to take a little snort from time to time, but Daddy lived in the era when taking a little snort or even buying a little snort was against the law thanks to the Mississippi Legislature. It outlawed the manufacture or sale of distilled spirits in the Magnolia State in 1907. But that little technicality didn’t deter him or any other snorter back then. When Daddy got ready for a little snort of whiskey, Daddy never failed to get his hands on a bottle of Old Crow. I have tasted Old Crow. Take my word for it. It’s some raunchy stuff—in my humble opinion anyway. Be that as it may, there were plenty of bootleggers around who provided moonshine as well as the store-bought stuff back then.
The illegal business of bootlegging is not that hard to understand. Boot-leggers took their chances, they sold their product and they paid the consequences. Whatever those consequences happened to be. But there was another type of whiskey vendor in Mississippi at that time. Package stores sold bonded whiskey legally/illegally. I know that makes absolutely no sense.
The name “package store” was not randomly chosen. It was chosen to mask the real purpose of the store. Not that it fooled anybody, but it made a few folks feel a little better about the establishment and perhaps about themselves as well. Package stores were scattered around the state, but most of them were located in the counties along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. It comes as no surprise that the first legal liquor store was located in Greenville near the Big Muddy after the law was changed in 1966. It was not long before legal package stores sprang up all over the state where local city ordinances permitted.
In the day of the package store, the thirsty customer would drive up to the store window, place his order, make his purchase and then go on about his business. Much like we do at McDonald’s today. No questions asked, including proof of age.
The package store operator had a leg up on the bootlegger. He didn’t have to worry about dodging the Revenuers or paying a fine. He simply paid a “Black Market Tax.” Nice and clean. That’s where things get complicated. I have never been quite able to understand exactly how they validated the concept of the Black Market Tax. But it worked back then and you can’t argue with success.
There was a move to repeal the Black Market Tax in 1947 by the State Senate, but the House would have no part of it. The Black Market Tax stayed put and so did the package stores. It’s hard to stop a train when the train happens to be a gravy train.
There are still a few package stores around today, but nowadays most places that sell liquor are called just that: Liquor Stores. Makes sense to me. Whatever they are called, you can get out of your car, go in and shop around. They also have more to offer than Old Crow.
Maybe it would be a good idea to outlaw liquor sales again in Mississippi and re-implement the Black Market Tax to fund education. Daddy served on the Newton County School Board during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and that would make him so proud.

Ralph Gordon is a past President of the Mississippi Writers Guild and winner of the Tallahatchie River-Fest William Faulkner Literary Award.