Back Taxes Likely Closed Main Street Tavern

Regular customers of the will have to look elsewhere for a beer or sandwich.

A sign posted on the front door of the restaurant states the bar and grill's vendor's license has been revoked, and the business can no longer make retail sales as of July 7, 2011.

In Ohio, a vendor's license is required for every fixed place of business where taxable sales are made. The license is issued by the county auditor and managed at the state level by the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Howard Wheat, a spokesperson for the taxation department, said the state tax commissioner ordered the suspension of Main Street Tavern's vendor's license, prohibiting them from doing business.

"By law, we can’t tell why," Wheat said.

The eatery owes more than $14,000 in real property taxes, according to the Portage County Auditor's Office online records. The restaurant, doing business as Hart's Inc., is owned by Ellen & Lisa LLC, according to county records.

The owners could not be reached for comment. It's unclear if the closure is permanent.

Portage County Treasurer Steve Shanafelt said the owners made their last property tax payment in March 2010 when they came in to set up a payment plan for prior back taxes.

Shanafelt said records show the owners made the intial payment to start the plan but then didn't continue with the payment program.

The restaurant is not the first Kent business to close abruptly this year.

June 28. The owners are across from the Kent State University campus.

In February, . The reason for .

Matt Mullins, a spokesman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control, said the agency was notified last year of the tax delinquency at Main Street Tavern and the bar's liquor permit was almost revoked then. But the Ohio Liquor Control Commission, a separate entity from the liquor division, granted renewal of the liquor permit in October 2010 on the condition they enter a payment plan for the back taxes.

"We have notice from the tax departmet of some kind of a tax problem that, if not resolved, could affect their upcoming renewal Oct. 1,” Mullins said.