What a good idea!
It doesn't go quite far enough though. It occurred to me that one of the justifications for this would be that the thousands of tourists who come here are using our roads for free and that's not fair to hard-working Astorians, Warrentonites and Seasiders...So what we also need is a tax on those tourists that use our sidewalks and pay nothing, or the tourists that are enjoying Safeway Slab Square without paying a dime.
We need a Sunday Market Tax.
A modest amount would be levied on the rental of each vendor space for out-of-town vendors who are using our streets and sidewalks without returning a dime to the citizens. That seems fair. The vendors would just pass that tax through on sales. The city would also collect a small tax on each sale with all proceeds dedicated to sidewalk repairs and up-keep on the extensive plantings at Safeway Slab Square. Perfect. Politically quite neutral.
Still not enough though.
The City should collect a tax (modest..of course) on every slab of marble and granite delivered
in city limits with a half-penny-a-cut tax levied on all rock saw cuts and sandblasts.
Still not enough..need more? OK
How about a fork tax? We should really get behind this one. Any restaurant which supplies customers a fork will be charged a 2-cent fork usage tax for every fork distributed. The debate on this idea will probably center on whether a dropped fork would count. I say yes if it is replaced otherwise "fork it over".
I'd mention here that the real money could come from a levy on America's most popular soft drink but considering how much of this product my wife consumes, I'd just be shooting myself in the foot so I say this kind of tax serves no one and is quite unfair.
Gee..wonder how all this will play in Seaside?
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