A bartender gets a bottle of Brown-Forman brand Jack Daniels whiskey off the shelf at a bar in San Francisco, Friday, March 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)JOE EDWARDS, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The makers of Jack Daniel’s whiskey can take a victory sip after a proposal by local officials to tax its barrels of booze was derailed before it could reach the Tennessee Legislature.
The Moore County Council in Lynchburg voted 10-5 Monday evening to rescind a vote asking lawmakers to authorize a local referendum on the proposal, which would have taxed Jack Daniel’s up to $5 million annually with the revenue going to local coffers.
Charles Rogers of Lynchburg, who had spearheaded the effort, said the issue “is now on life support.”
Jack Daniel’s is the world’s top-selling whiskey, distilled in the tiny town which has been celebrated in folksy, black-and-white advertisements for years.