As Gertrude Stein — who was born in Oakland — famously said, “A rose is a rose is a rose.” On the other side of that coin, an alcohol tax masquerading as a fee is a tax, and a terrible idea, no matter what you call it. Today’s San Francisco Examiner, in their Under the Dome section on City Hall Politics, is reporting that Avalos hopes renaming alcohol fee makes it more potable to business. Apparently small businesses don’t like the newly proposed alcohol tax, but supervisor Avalos has the solution. Forget addressing their concerns, admitting it’s a bad idea or even conceding he was duped by the Marin Institute, no. His answer is to change the name of the “alcohol mitigation fee” to “alcohol cost recovery fee” so that — and I quote — “businesses might find the proposal a bit more refreshing.” How stupid does he think people are? You have to wonder.
Apparently they’re stupid enough to vote that bozo into office.
Sorry to hear this insane saga continuing.
Giving the tax a new name is like dipping a turd in chocolate; in the end, you still have a turd.
I hope better sense prevails in this matter, unfortunately the outspoken and fact twisting folks at the Marin Instutute (and other similar groups) seem to have an endless supply of their magic ‘chocolate’
On an unrelated note, and just to set literary atributions straight…the great Gertrude Stein’s actual quote is: “A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose…”
“A rose by any other name..” comes from William Shakespeare, and is spoken by “Juliet”, to her beloved “Romeo”.
Thanks, you’re the second person to point out that I mixed up the quotes. I changed it to reflect Stein’s quote. Best, J
Hi Jay-
Any word on the status of this? I believe there was a public hearing in SF yesterday. Thanks,
d