Mayor R.T. Rybak's argument for funding a Viking's stadium in Minneapolis got some ammunition from the state Capitol on Monday.

Rep. Greg Davids, the Republican chair of the House Tax Committee, introduced legislation that would terminate the city's sales, restaurant, liquor and lodging taxes in 2020. Rybak has repeatedly cited that very possibility as a reason to support his Vikings stadium plan, which redirects those taxes over the longterm.

The bill will be the subject of a hearing in Davids' committee on Thursday, three days after it was introduced.

The taxes (1/2 percent sales, 3 percent restaurant, 3 percent liquor and 2.62 percent lodging) currently pay debt and operating expenses for the Convention Center. Rybak hopes that once the debt is paid in 2020, some of the money could fund a stadium and Target Center debt and repairs.

But eliminating the taxes, the mayor wrote on his blog, would leave the Target Center and Convention Center "financially unsustainable."

Some say that Minneapolis should just walk away from the table and not be part of this discussion. But this point of view turns a blind eye to reality — that the Legislature controls Minneapolis' taxes and Minneapolis' fate.

The existing taxes that Council President Johnson and I want to use for property-tax relief, for Target Center and the Convention Center, as well as for a new stadium, are ones that the Legislature has the power simply to take from Minneapolis at will.

If we were not at the table fighting to solve these long-standing stadium issues, the Legislature could — and in all likelihood, would — simply apply our taxes entirely to a new Vikings stadium, leaving Minneapolis homeowners out in the cold and still paying for Target Center debt. This would also leave the Convention Center and Target Center financially unsustainable, damage our strong hospitality economy and create even more of a burden for Minneapolis taxpayers.

Davids' bill would not necessarily apply those funds to a new Vikings stadium, but it would eliminate them as a revenue generator.

Davids, R-Preston, declined to directly comment on whether his proposal was aimed at putting pressure on the Minneapolis City Council to help financially support a Minnesota Vikings stadium. Absent a citywide referendum, seven of the 13 council members have said they oppose the mayor's plan.

"There are some that have been drawing such conclusions, and I'll let them just speculate," he said.

"The bill itself is simply taking [away] a very regressive tax that is putting more money into that account that was never contemplated was needed," he said. Davids said it was "kind of glaring" how much additional money was going into the account.

The mayor's office declined to comment on the bill introduction, noting that they have not have not had a chance to look at it fully.

Mike Kaszuba contributed to this report.