A campaign to stop the city of Toronto from taxing alcohol sales was launched on Friday.

"Enough is enough...no drink tax", a coalition of restaurant and hospitality industry stakeholders, is protesting the city's idea to add a municipal tax to liquor sold in Toronto's restaurants and bars.

The tax is one of the proposals under the new Toronto Act, and the city estimates it would take an extra $15 million to $151 million out of the pockets of liquor buyers.

It's estimated that the new taxes on alcohol, or what the city calls a "revenue tool," will cost the average household $140  a year.

The coalition says that a 10 per cent increase, the high end of the city's proposed levy, would cost drinkers about a dollar more for each bottle of wine, two dollars more for a bottle of spirits and up to three dollars more for every case of beer.

They also say that restaurant and bar owners will pay a price when people opt to stay out of the city to avoid the extra tax.

"It's going to hurt our industry even more than it has in the past," said restaurant owner Dino Magnatta. "We still haven't recuperated from SARS and 9/11. We're trying to get tourists up to the city, not away from the city."

More than half of what Ontario residents pay for liquor already goes to the provincial and federal governments. The city says that about 70 per cent of Toronto's residents drink alcohol, and the number isn't declining.

Currently, no other municipality in Canada has an alcohol tax, but large cities in the U.S., like New York and Philadelphia, cash in on liquor sales.

The city of Toronto's assessment of the proposed tax says if people avoid the tax and liquor sales drop, it may force marginally profitable businesses to close their doors.

The document also says industry figures suggest that bars and restaurants generally operate with profit margins less than five per cent.

The "Enough is enough...no drink tax" campaigners are circulating a petition and urging Torontonians to voice their concerns to city hall.

There are currently around 4,150 licensed establishments in Toronto.

With a report from Desmond Brown