Tobacco.org

Bars bounced back from smoking ban 

Bar, restaurants and taverns have reportedly bounced back strongly from the effects of the Initiative 901 smoking ban, racking up strong gains in gross income during 2007.

Businesses that feared being hard hit by the ban on smoking in public places, generated 20.3 percent more gross income in 2007, compared to a 0.3 percent gain in 2006, the first full year after the smoking ban took effect in December 2005, state Department of Revenue officials reported.

Their average growth rate actually was stronger in the two years after I-901 than in the years preceding the ballot initiative.

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