You know when public officials have the most fun? When they get new money to spend that they don't have to take the political heat for.:
A proposal to double Indiana's alcohol taxes to bail out a struggling Indianapolis sports board would funnel money to cities and towns across the state, cash the plan's architect hoped would be used for economic development.
But mayors say their cash-strapped cities need the money to plug holes in their budgets, and they plan to use the money to cover the basics like police and fire protection.
That sense of serendipitous lagniappe is especially strong when the tax is against a sin such as drinking, gambling or smoking, and the amount is thought to be too small to be worthy of worry:
The tax would add about a penny to a 12-ounce beer or about a dime to a bottle of wine.
"This is not a significant burden on the average person," said Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield.
No, Mr. Hershman, it's not. But, then again, most of the taxes we pay don't seem like all that much of a burden individually. It's the aggregate that gets to be staggering, and what really galls are attitudes like yours (especially unattractive in a Republican) that
