Hope for Wine Lovers Yet?

The Indianapolis Star reports (that's becoming an oxymoron fast, isn't it?) that the push to double the tax on alcohol statewide is losing momentum. That's the good news. The bad news is that there will be an amendment to the legislation to allow Marion County to impose it's own local excise tax.

Apparently, Senator Kenley is surprised the proposed tax hike raised controversy instead of support. Who'da thunk it?

If this passes, the battle shifts to the City-County Council, who will then vote on the proposed tax increase. The Democrats will presumably vote against it, because, well, the mayor is a Republican. The Mayor will secretly support it, but pretend like he doesn't, and foist it all on the Republican majority in the CCC. The Republicans will presumably vote against it because they want to keep their jobs.

I think if this proposed bill makes it out in the present form it will not pass the CCC-yet. But, just you wait until times get better, and the furor dies down. Then, look for this tax hike to pass while our backs are turned.

What Did You Expect?

As was pretty much expected, the Senate voted 10-2 to advance the CIB bailout measure, that would among, other things, double the state excise tax.

Color me surprised. Did you really expect the state legislators to dare piss off the Irsays or Simons and miss out on primo box seats?

Hearing Scheduled to Double Indiana Excise Tax

I received the following email about the hearing scheduled on doubling the excise tax. The email was written by Lisa Hays Murray, attorney with Hays Murray Castor.

Please see the email below that Jim Purucker, representing the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers, sent out this afternoon. Since Jim does an excellent job in summarizing the alcohol tax amendment and shoring up calls in opposition, I have taken the liberty to send his email to you and ask that you and your employees join in on the calls to legislators opposing the tax.

“This Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will be considering an amendment to HB 1604 which increases the excise tax on Alcohol by 100% to help fund the Marion County Capital Improvement Board shortfall caused by the Pacers, Colts and Convention Center operating losses. In and effort to gain support for the idea, the anticipated $42 million increase in alcohol taxes would be distributed statewide to cities and towns throughout Indiana on a population basis for economic development initiatives. Only Indianapolis’ portion ($8 million annually) of this increase would go to the Marion County Capital Improvement Board. Here is the membership up of the Committee. Please have your employees and customers contact their legislators to let them know what a bad idea this is. I have also attached a flyer which you can feel free to distribute to members, employees and customers. This will reach the Senate Floor sometime next week. “

Senate Appropriations Committee

Senator Luke Kenley, Chair R - Noblesville

Senator John Broden, R.M.M. D - South Bend

Senator Gary Dillon, R.M. R - Pierceton

Senator Lindel Hume D - Princeton

Senator Phil Boots R - Crawfordsville

Senator Earline Rogers D - Gary

Senator Brandt Hershman R - Monticello

Senator Karen Tallian D - Portage

Senator Teresa Lubbers R - Indianapolis

Senator Patricia Miller R - Indianapolis

Senator Ryan Mishler R - Bremen

Senator Tom Wyss R – Ft. Wayne

House Switchboard:

800-382-9842 317-232-9600

Senate Switchboard:

800-382-9467 317-232-9400

Edit: I wanted to get this post out as soon as I could, and could not write comments due to having to go to work, but can now. As the commenter notes, this bill would result not only in higher costs for consumers but in greater costs for our fledgling wine industry. This is especially true if the rumors that this will apply only to bottles of alcohol sold and not to drinks sold in taverns bears out. I hope people would take this into consideration and take the time to call their representatives to let them know their feelings about this proposal.

IATC Raids an Indiana Winery

Hoosier Wine Cellar reports that several Indiana wineries were the target of an Excise sting right after the "face to face" requirement was reinstated by the 7th Circuit. The caller would implore the wineries to send a bottle to the caller's mother through the mail, despite the fact the caller had not completed the required application to ship wine.

Sadly, one unnamed winery failed to follow the statute, and sent a bottle. This resulted in the immediate search of the winery, and the suspension of the winery's license. The matter was quickly settled with a substantial fine, and now we all know the Excise Police are serious about enforcing this law.

I tend to be very pro-law enforcement, and don't much care of the "where are our priorities" argument when it comes to enforcement of statutes. So don't expect that here. But when various Federal Circuits, appellate courts, and just about everyone else has trouble interpreting the current state of the law, (or, at the very least, has concerns about the current constitutionality of the law) is prompt enforcement wise?

I would have recommended a memo sent to all wineries by IATC's legal counsel clarifying the current state of the law, complete with a note of IATC's commitment to enforcing the statute. Several government agencies routinely do this, and counsel's secretary only has to make 37 copies.

Then again, one might say this should have been done by the Indiana Wine Guild. I suppose, but I am not sure if they are in a position to afford to retain an attorney on a consistent basis, though apparently they did finance the quick settlement of the above action.

One thing is clear-there are no winners in this. The IATC looks like a heavy handed Gestapo, and the winery has a massive fine to pay in the midst of a recession.

Let's hope the other 36 wineries in Indiana got the message.

PS: I did find this warning from The Wine Institute dated December 2 warning shippers of the return of the face to face requirement.

In No-Brainer News of the Week...

The Indiana Legislature will not be acting on Sunday alcohol sales this session.

You don't say?

According to the article, the newly formed Hoosiers for Beverage Choices wanted to push for an update of the state's alcohol laws, but legislative leaders don't want to deal with any alcohol legislation this session.

There are many reasons for this, but I can't blame the Legislature. There are much more important issue facing our state. First, the reps need to ensure that ethics reform doesn't even make it out of committee, let alone come up for a full vote. Then, we have to make sure all those township employees on the public tit stay there.

Besides, those "Hoosiers for Beverage Choice" people are hacks. I bet they haven't even bothered to bribe a legislator yet.