Summary
I'm not normally one to defend taxation. I'm a cheap bastard - I'd like to keep my shekels for my own self, thanks very much. But I have a car, something a lot of people can't afford. That's why we have buses, so people without means - or people who also like to save a shekel or two - can get where they're going, freeing up traffic for the rest of us.
Now there is at least one other option [Dan Onorato] could have tried: raising property taxes. But despite having pissed off drinkers - the most sizable contingent in Western Pennsylvania's pool of potential voters - [Danny] isn't as dumb as he looks. Property owners vote. And they've been boned a lot in recent years, what with the complex manipulation of the weird property-tax system here by county governments and the courts. Dan may be dumb, but he's not stupid. He is not going to raise property taxes, because that's the only thing even less popular than raising the drink tax.Here's the thing: The drink tax is legal. It's here to stay. And in this region of drunks, it's a safe bet it will work. To paraphrase Nancy Sinatra, whose father was no slouch in the booze department, these folks are made for drinkin'. And that's just what they'll do.See the full content of this document
Extract
Swallowing Resentment
I DON'T KNOW if you've noticed, but people here like to drink. More than one comic has noted that there's an abundance of churches and bars here ... plus some churches that get turned into bars.
Now,...See the full content of this document
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