Increasing taxes to get more revenue frequently does not work.   The District of Columbia raised it tax on cigarettes from $2 a carton to $2.50 a carton.  As a result, DC collected $4.9 million less during the period October 2009 through April 2010 than it did the prior period covering the same months.  Extrapolating this number to a year equates to an annual decrease of $8.4 million.  The brain-trust idiots who passed the increase predicted that revenue would go up $9.7 million a year.

See “Wealthy Fleeing Tax Happy New Jersey – $70 Billion Lost 2004 – 2008” for another example of increasing taxes with the result of less revenue collected.

Related posts:

  1. States Continued to See Sharp Declines in Tax Revenue During Third Quarter of 2009
  2. 10 States Where Taxes Are Rising the Most
  3. Maryland Raises Tax on Rich Who Bug Out so State Collects Less Tax
  4. Sin Taxes on Soda, Alcohol & Cigarettes: Congress’s Latest Vice
  5. New Jersey Battles over Tax on Millionaires because Legislature is Unaware that the Tax would Reduce Tax Revenue
  6. 2010 Federal Income Tax Rates
  7. What Higher Taxes Will Really Mean
  8. 30 Million Face $3,700 Tax Increases in 2012
  9. New York Passes Cigarette Tax Increase
  10. New York Cigarette Tax Will Bring Cost of a Pack Over $10