Tom Baron sees a "huge pain" when the new 10 percent tax on alcoholic drinks, which was approved Tuesday by Allegheny County Council, takes effect in January.

Like other Pittsburgh restaurateurs and bar owners who opposed the levy, Mr. Baron, president of Big Burrito Restaurant Group, which owns Mad Mex and other restaurants including Kaya and Eleven, is worried the new tax will not only dent his profit base, but be a hassle to implement.

"We still don't know much about this tax. We don't even know if it will affect sales of takeout of a six-pack from a bar," he said.

He is not the only one still unsure of the parameters of the tax, which was approved as part of a new dedicated funding source for the county's $30 million subsidy of the Port Authority.

County Treasurer John Weinstein yesterday said the tax will apply to all retail liquor sales at bars and restaurants, except sales of six-packs.

Pints of draft beer, glasses wine, shots of liquor, bottles of wine, bottles of beer, bottles of distilled spirits and mixed drinks sold at bars and restaurants will be subject to the tax, Mr. Weinstein said. He will soon draw up rules of how the tax will be implemented.

However, "a six-pack of beer will not be taxed," he said, noting the drink tax here will be modeled after Philadelphia's.

Philadelphia's liquor sales tax, enacted in 1994, also 10 percent, was intended to raise revenue for the city's ailing school district.

The city's regulations require restaurateurs and bar owners to pay the tax monthly, by the 25th day following the month in which the tax is collected (January's taxes, for instance, are due Feb. 25).

The Philadelphia tax does not apply to sales at state stores or beer distributors; it also is not levied on six-packs purchased for carry-out from taverns.

Establishments that have liquor licenses but allow patrons to bring their own liquor, charging a corkage fee, are not required to collect tax on the corkage fee.

Complimentary offerings -- Philadelphia uses the example of a free bottle of wine provided to a couple celebrating their silver wedding anniversary at a restaurant -- are not subject to the tax.

At a catered affair like a wedding reception with an open bar, the liquor charges incurred by the event are subject to the tax.

Establishments that charge a single fee for food and drink -- for instance, a $10 happy hour that includes food and alcohol -- must determine the portion of the fee that applies to the liquor and pay tax on that amount.

Mr. Baron, whose group owns a Mad Mex restaurant in Philadelphia, believes Allegheny County should never have considered a drink tax modeled on Philadelphia's.

He said the cost of the tax can be absorbed in Philadelphia because of a higher volume of business. Here, he said, "there are a lot more restaurants that are already operating on the margins."

The tax will especially be felt by smaller corner bars, said Ned Sokoloff, president and chief executive officer of Specialty Group, a one-stop shop in the North Hills for people in the bar and restaurant business.

Mr. Sokoloff, in business for 38 years, said the alcohol tax is essentially "a tax on poor people."

"Many of those big restaurants and bars are going to be mostly fine when this tax hits," he said. "I'm talking about the small shot-and-beer bars on the street corner that are going to be hurt."

Mr. Sokoloff noted that the 10 percent drink tax will be on top of five other tiers of liquor taxation already in place.

In Pennsylvania, all liquor license holders must purchase wine and spirits from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

The PLCB charges a 30 percent markup; a "bottle charge" of $1.25 per bottle; a round-up to the nearest 9 cents ($21.82 becomes $21.89); an 18 percent "Johnstown flood tax" that was enacted in 1936 to rebuild that city but has remained in effect ever since; and the 7 percent sales tax in Allegheny County.

Kevin Joyce, proprietor of The Carlton restaurant, Downtown, and chairman of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, said restaurateurs and bar owners will have to update cash register systems to add the tax, print new menus, and set new prices in the next three weeks.