I Can’t Drink to This
In their quest for a solution to solve the Capital Improvement Board funding shortfall, my friends in the Mayor’s office are floating the idea of a regional alcohol tax. The tax would be raised one-percent in Marion and the surrounding counties.
Everyone would be able to keep the revenue they raise and Indianapolis’ would go towards the $47 million CIB shortfall. The logic in all this is that by increasing the tax region wide no one will run across county lines to buy more booze. This is a bad idea.
The point of regional taxation should be that the region helps pay for projects which benefit the region. For example, it would be one thing if half of the one-percent increase went to the CIB and there was regional representation on the board. But allowing every government to keep the tax increase does nothing but put the full burden of the CIB issue on the backs of Marion County eventhough the entire region benefits through the hundreds of millions of dollars raised in sales tax revenue which goes to help pay for programs in other parts of the state.
There is no incentive for any elected official outside of Marion County to raise taxes. Especially since the money to solve the CIB shortfall is already there. For example, according to the Convention and Visitor’s Association, there are more than 180 groups committed to use the convention center between now and 2021, this doesn’t count anyone who books between now and then. Those conventions will bring an estimated 3.2 million people and generate more than $2.2 billion in direct spending. Tell me there isn’t enough money in there to avoid a tax increase!
And maybe people aren’t reading the news, but voters in two area school districts just voted down tax increases to build new schools and Californians also via referendum voted down a number of options that would raise taxes to solve their budget problems. The voters are not in the mood for any taxation, let alone one that forces them to carry the full burden of the load, even though it’s the rest of the state that is the big beneficiary.
