REGRESSIVE "PROGRESSIVES"

Last century my mom taught me that sales tax is regressive.  "That means it's good for rich people and bad for poor people," she explained.

"Since poor people spend everything they earn every month, sales tax applies to their entire incomes."

"Republicans, rich people, and right-wingers always favor sales taxes,"  she concluded.  "It's a way to identify them, like a trademark.

Herman Cain, for instance, advocates a national sales tax.

In a few weeks SF voters will hopefully reject Proposition G, a proposal to increase local sales tax by 0.5%.

Q.  So, what right-wing, Republican, rich people got this regressive proposition on the ballot?

A.  Our "progressive" Board of Supervisors.

Not a single supervisor voted against it, even to show token opposition.  Yet many of them, notably Avalos, Campos, Mar, and Mirkirimi, call themselves "progressives."

According to my mom's definition, these guys are fake progressives.

According to this 10/09/11 sfgate story, even the Democratic Party endorses Prop G.

In addition to the local GOP, the local Libertarian Party opposes Prop. G. The San Francisco Democratic Party supports the ballot measure.

In electoral politics there is nowhere for  actual, real progressives to turn.  Sadly this is true locally as well as nationally.

Thus, Occupy Wall Street!

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