The Rapid City Journal gets it, I wonder if the Gargoyle Leader will?
l3wis South DaCola made the FIVES again;
Regressive taxation, in graphic detailA few years ago, the Journal Editorial Board took exception to the state’s efforts to force cities to raise taxes, particularly because the tax increase would include staple items such as food.
The state heard similar complaints from folks all over South Dakota, and in response, offered up a program by which individuals who met a certain income level could apply for relief.
Still, no matter how it’s explained, taxes on food are regressive, i.e., it most adversely affects the people who are least able to deal with it, the poor.
That’s blogger Scott Ehrisman’s argument against a current plan being floated by Sioux Falls officials to increase taxes to pay for an events center.
While Ehrisman’s conclusion that such a move is plain and simple discrimination may be hard from some people to swallow, he makes an extraordinary case against regressive taxation by offering up a graphic that shows by income bracket what percentage individuals must pay of their total earnings to such taxes.
Another case of a picture — or a line graph — is worth a thousand words.
Angry Guy 
