Oakland has a problem with litter. What are they to do? I know…they can tax fast food restaurants.
Oakland officials are so fed up with fast-food trash that they want to tax the businesses they blame for much of the city’s garbage woes, then use the money to clean up the streets.
One sentence from the person who came up with the idea tells what’s really at the heart of this tax plan: “It’s not fair that the residents have to clean up after a fast-food establishment that’s making a profit,” said Councilwoman Jane Brunner, who proposed the new ordinance.
That’s right folks, its all about the evil profits.
Luckily, some in the city understand that taxing these evil profit-makers would end up hurting Oakland citizens…
“This is an indirect tax on the people,” said Benjamin Scott, public policy director for Oakland’s Chamber of Commerce. “This ordinance does little to address the problem of litter in Oakland.”
How long is it going to take for lawmakers to understand that taxes like this are simply bad economic decisions, not solutions to every problem under the sun?