D.C. group's ad blasts CIB drink tax proposal

Indianapolis Star
April 22, 2009
The Washington, D.C.-based American Beverage Institute has taken out an ad in today's Indianapolis Star encouraging Hoosiers to contact legislators and demand a "no" on boosting the alcohol tax to help the city's struggling Capital Improvement Board.

The CIB, which operates Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse, other professional sports venues and the Indiana Convention Center, is facing a $47.5 million deficit.

Currently, a bipartisan group of Marion County legislators have pitched the idea of bailing out the CIB through the bank accounts of township trustees.

But last week, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard proposed raising alcohol and car rental taxes as part of an approximately $50 million plan to cover the projected budget shortfall by the agency that oversees the stadiums for the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers.

Alcohol taxes would double only in Marion County under his proposal.

The American Beverage Institute, which says it represents over 200 Indiana restaurants, ran a full page ad that reads: "Jim Irsay isn’t going to pay for your drink. So why should you pay for operating his stadium?"

"A tax like this won’t hurt executives who watch the games from the skybox, but it will make a big difference to fans in the cheap seats or watching the game at home," the ad reads, giving the Web sitehttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif NoDrinkTax.com for more information.

"Why should the fans be forced to pay extra for the new stadium while the Colts sit back and reap the benefits?” said ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell in a statement.