According to Shane Goldmacher over at Capitol Weekly, New York’s nominally Republican Mayor – who was elected on a “no new taxes” platform – has donated $250,000 to pass a new tax here in California – on cigarretes.
Billionaire Bloomberg is now officially a jerk. Who does this? Who pledges not to raise taxes in his own city, but finances a campaign to raise them elsewhere?
Bloomberg’s had a couple of appearances with Governor Schwarzenegger. No more, please. Time to roll up the red carpet!
October 19th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I assume you’re talking about Proposition 86– Bloomberg raised taxes on tobacco products in NYC a few years ago.
One needs to look no further than the Cato Institute to see their study on the disastrous effects of his tax hike. New York has a long history of tobacco taxes and illegal smuggling into the city, as criminal rings love the taxes and the profits they can make when the price per carton is increased artificially.
In the first four months following Bloomberg’s tax hike, sales of taxable butts fell by 50% over that same period last year. In August 2002, authorities stumbled upon $300,000 in fake tax stamps made in Paraguay on the way to NYC. There has been a spike in robberies of convenience stores, more cases of terrorist fundraising from these profits, and less revenue collected from the sale of legal cigarettes. All documented here: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa468.pdf
If your goal is to empower traditional organized crime, terrorist organizations, and street gangs, feel free to copy the Bloomberg idea here!