OPINION:
The same congressional Democrats who never once raised an eyebrow, much less any alarm, about Bidenflation are now shamelessly seeking to make “affordability” a buzzword central to their campaigns ahead of the midterm elections in November.
All but rabid Democratic partisans, and perhaps the terminally naive or clueless, know it’s pure political theater. Their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats, and their acolytes don’t really give the proverbial tinker’s damn about affordability, except to the extent that demagoguery about it boosts their electoral prospects this fall.
We know this because the same Democrats seeking to politically weaponize “affordability” said nothing about it during the entire four years of Joseph R. Biden’s presidency, even when prices rose 9.1% in 2022 alone.
According to FactCheck.org in an Oct. 9 post, during the Biden administration, “Consumer prices rose 21.5%. Gasoline alone rose 31%. After adjusting for inflation, private-sector average weekly earnings shrank 4%.”
So, disingenuous though Democrats’ “affordability” consultant-concocted talking points may be, Democrats in Northern Virginia’s most populous jurisdiction apparently didn’t get the memo.
The clearest indication of this was apparent on Jan. 1, when a new 4% “meals tax” surcharge in heavily Democratic Fairfax County, a suburb of Washington, took effect, on top of the existing 6% sales tax. It was passed in May by the Democratic-dominated county Board of Supervisors.
That will add 4 cents to every dollar of everyone’s tabs at every restaurant, coffee shop, fast-food and pizza joint, ice cream parlor, bar and tavern, convenience store, food truck, caterer, and Uber Eats and Door Dash order. Also affected are ready-to-eat meals from supermarket delis and salad bars, as well as concessions at movie theaters, concerts and sports venues.
Two firsthand examples since Jan. 1, based on my own purchases: A small hot coffee purchased at a Dunkin’ in Annandale on Dec. 29 for $2.99 carried with it the existing sales tax of 18 cents (i.e., 6%) for a total of $3.17. That same small $2.99 coffee now is smacked with 30 cents in taxes for an out-the-door (or drive-thru) price of $3.29.
On Sunday, a made-to-order fried chicken sandwich from the deli of a Harris Teeter supermarket in Falls Church, on sale for $3.97, carried with it 40 cents in taxes (up from 24 cents) for a total of $4.37. At the sandwich’s regular $5 price, it would have been taxed 50 cents, up from 30 cents.
A hypothetical dinner out for a family of four at a midprice restaurant in Fairfax County with a top line of, for example, $75, on New Year’s Eve would have cost $79.50 after taxes. On New Year’s Day, it became $82.50, fully $3 more.
In other words, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, with its 9-1 Democratic supermajority, has made dining out more expensive — aka less “affordable” — for average residents of the county. The sole Republican member of the board, Pat Herrity of Springfield, voted against the meals tax surcharge.
The supervisors shoved the meals tax hike down residents’ throats despite the surcharge being resoundingly rejected by Fairfax voters twice: first in 1992 and again in the general election of Nov. 8, 2016.
“Voters rejected it both times, with 55% and 54% of the vote, respectively,” the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, and Travel Association noted.
Now, if, as a likely consequence, county residents dine out less frequently — and/or opt for less-expensive entrees or forgo appetizers and desserts or a second round of drinks — that will necessarily have an adverse trickle-down effect that will hurt the bottom lines of restaurants and the other aforementioned food service entities compelled to charge and collect these higher taxes.
Washington’s WUSA-TV reported that the Fairfax supervisors projected a two-thirds increase in the levy, from 6% to 10%, would generate $67 million in additional revenue. Still, anyone who has taken Econ 101 should be familiar with the concept of price elasticity of demand: As the price of a good or service rises, demand for it decreases.
As such, the consequence will likely be a smaller increase in tax revenue than the greedy Board of Supervisors projected, and that will surely cause them to go in search of still other taxes to hike to pay for their insatiable appetite for spending in the face of a projected budget shortfall of $131 million.
For Democrats, big government can never make do with less, but as long as they keep electing them, Fairfax residents will have to do their own belt-tightening, likely including eating out less frequently. Affordability be damned.
• Peter Parisi is a former editor for The Washington Times.
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