There’s an inherent falsehood to the phrase “If you want less of something tax it.” While accurate concerning human behavior, it is inverted in relation to Democrat behavior. The left never raises a tax to get less. They do it to get more.
Related: New Hampshire Should Support the Massachusetts Soda Tax
Philadelphia passed a Soda tax a few years ago. The sales pitch went something like this. People are fat. Soda is to blame. We’ll tax the crap out of it. People will buy something else and get healthier. Healthy people cost taxpayers less. We’ll use the revenue to advance this public good.
But the only public good a Democrat can see is more government. So, they craft the narrative. Activate public awareness. Pitch a solution to their supposed problem. Gin up support. And promise results.
And while the purpose of the tax is sold as a path to ending use or consumption of some advertised evil (like soda, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.) the mechanisms created to police that process never die.
Philly increased the sugary beverage tax seventeen percent. Sales dropped fifty-one percent. Sales outside the city, where there was no tax increase, rose thirty-eight percent. Jobs and business followed the move. And by all accounts, there is no evidence that retired soda-drinkers switched to water or something healthier.
Hot air, doing a bit of math for the sake of making a point, notes that Philly probably lost money by raising the tax.
So, let’s look at this assuming one million ounces of soda was sold anually before the tax went into effect. If sales had remained the same, the city would have realized $62,400.00 in revenue instead of $54,300.00. But with the volume cut in half, they managed to slash their revenue to $31,200.00. (I was told there would be no math. Apparently City Hall in Philadelphia was operating on the same assumption.) Great job, guys. You gutted your revenue stream, caused layoffs in the beverage industry and depressed sales in the city’s retail outlets, likely impacting entry level jobs.
Every Democrat tax comes with a prediction of increased revenue. Even absent a new tax Democrats predict higher tax receipts. They do that to grow government. When the revenue falls short as planned, newer and, higher taxes are required to sustain the new growth.
There is no choice movement on the Left for the turgid belly of government. Programs, once conceived, are never aborted. Agencies that expand do not contract. Even when their mandate proves fruitless or the revenue promised to sustain them dissipates. This is by design.
So, as we move into what will be a budget showdown in New Hampshire between spend then tax Democrats and their Tax and spend allies, understand the scheme.
No matter what the line item or the dollar amount. Regardless of the presumed good, Democrats promise that only their government can provide. The only goal is to take money from people who earned it to stuff down the insatiable gullet of incompetent, wasteful, corrupt, overbearing, leviathan government.
There is no greater good on the Left.
