Chicago Trib Author takes Issue with Hidden Taxes: Says Hide them Even Better
Posted by Anthony on March 3, 2010
The headline I read today was “New charge on dinner tab is in bad taste.” The opening paragraphs seemed to set the stage for the article:
Nothing succeeds in the travel industry like a bad idea. The latest hidden mandatory add-on is a “health” charge added to restaurant bills. As far as I know, this scam cropped up first in San Francisco, but you can count on it to spread.
The rationale for this one is to cover the employers’ mandatory contribution to the City’s “Healthy San Francisco” health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer’s bill to cover this charge.
Reading this, I assumed that the ‘scam’ was going to be the new charge levied on employers to cover their ‘mandatory contribution’ to a city’s health-coverage system. Boy was I wrong!
Ed Perkins protests, “Employees’ health insurance is no less of a cost of doing business than rent, property taxes, food costs, security services and all the other inputs businesses require to operate. To single out health care for a separate surcharge is unwarranted.” Read the rest of the entry… »























