Don’t Feed The Government Beast
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Taxes
No matter how much it begs:
Would you gladly pay more for a cheeseburger today if it keeps your local librarian working tomorrow?
Several members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors think so. So do supervisors in neighboring Loudoun County, who hope the General Assembly will allow them to impose a meals tax, too.
Despite the recession, a growing number of Northern Virginia officials say they think people would be willing to pay more when dining out to avoid further cuts in budgets for schools and local government.
Statists always play this trick. Anytime there is a potential need to cut the budget, or even just to not increase it, they always pick the most popular items and threaten to cut those. Yet there’s little reason to believe that these are actually the programs or services most threatened. Don’t believe the spin; you don’t need to pay yet more in taxes to keep having a library. That’s just bunk.
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.