Same story, different economy

Since January 20th, Americans have become familiar with the liberal mantra "never waste a good crisis" (thank you Rahm Emanuel). But there is another leftist concept that utterly confuses free-thinking, right-minded individuals during a recession. It goes something like this: "If it aint' broke...tax it!" And North Carolinians will likely become more and more acquainted with the idea as our good Governor's term proceeds.

Case in point: the so-called "Sin Tax." Historically, when the economy has slowed, sales on tobacco and alcohol have remained relatively steady. Logically then (at least in the minds of democrats) State Senate Leader Marc Basnight (D-Dare) announced his support for the provisions in Gov. Bev Purdue's 21 billion dollar budget that call for a $1 per pack tax hike on cigarettes and a 5% surcharge on alcohol. They argue that the two increases on "discretionary purchases" will bring in an additional 508 million dollars for the state. Perhaps that would be the case IF the equation were as simple as higher taxes = higher revenues. Unfortunately, it's just not that easy.

It's hard to believe that our state's highest elected officials don't understand the relationship between taxes and employment. For those of us in the real world, it's pretty basic. The more expensive it is for a business to exist, the more likely it is for that business to fail. Bearing in mind that unemployment hit 10.7% last month (the highest on record for the state and currently 4th worst in the nation) the question becomes: why would Gov. Perdue raise taxes on the tobacco industry which employs about 65,000 North Carolinians? And with Dare Co. leading the way with 17.3% unemployment, why would Sen. Basnight support a tax increase on alcohol that would effectively raise the cost of business for a major portion of his county's economy,i.e., RESTAURANTS. Not to mention the "mom & pop" stores that are already fighting for their existence. Why now?

Democrats have always tried to find crafty ways to raise taxes in order to prop up failing sectors of government or to fill any budgetary gaps. This is nothing new. What IS new, however, is that due to the current state of our economy, they're running short on targets. Leaving many of their own constituents in the cross-hairs. It is times like these that illustrate one of the many fundamental flaws in the democrat agenda: It just doesn't pay to be a successful business under a liberal government. In fact, it can be down right expensive.