Via The Examiner, it looks like it’s finally been long enough that we can start to measure the financial impact of the District’s smoking ban, thanks to reported tax revenues on both alcohol and cigarettes for the fiscal year now being available. Overall, the news is good: alcoholic beverage tax revenues are up 1.6 percent for fiscal 2007, while cigarette tax dollars are down a whopping 7.5 percent for the year. Taken at face value, these figures make it look like fewer people are smoking, which is good for everyone’s health and reduces long term health care costs, and people are spending just as much if not more on booze when they go out. So great, right?

Well, not exactly. The article goes on to note that most bars are in fact reporting reduced profits since the ban, but that taverns and restaurants that focus more on selling food are the ones reaping the benefits of higher alcohol revenues. Indeed, when we’ve chatted with various bartenders and bar owners over the last few months, we’ve always asked them how they feel the smoking ban is affecting them, and they all say they notice a difference, if relatively small, in how much they’re making. Back in June, Dante Ferrando, the owner of the Black Cat, told us that there’s been a significant change in his club in the last hour of business — instead of sticking around for one more round, many people are opting to leave earlier.

Still, it’s hard to make the argument that the business community is feeling an overall negative effect from the smoking ban with these numbers in hand. And given the popularity of the ban among a majority of consumers, there’s little doubt it’s here to stay. It will be interesting to see if many bars apply for economic-hardship waivers under the smoke-free law, as the Examiner points out Cleveland Park cigar bar Aroma has now done.