Stan Geiger

The Taco Bueno Effect

I went to Taco Bueno for a little lunch the other day. It had been a while since my last visit to a Bueno. I ordered a Bueno Chilada Platter (beef). The charge was $4.89. I can remember paying $3.99 for that platter not too long ago.

It doesn't sound like much of a price-up. I mean it's only 90 cents, right? But in percentage terms, it's a steep price-up. We're talking nearly 23 percent. Do you think the average person's pay went up 23 percent this year?

But still, it's only 90 cents. Hey, it's a cup of coffee! No big deal! Politicians and newspaper editors, when they argue for tax increases, use that mantra. Let's take a closer look.

Let's assume Taco Bueno installed its 90-cent price increase on January 1, and let's assume I ate a Bueno Chilada Platter for lunch every day for an entire year. I would pay $328.50 more for lunch in a year-over-year comparison. I don't know about you, but 328 bucks is a lot of money to me.

We're not done.

The Taco Bueno price-up is subject to sales taxes. A 90-cent price-up, therefore, isn't really a 90-cent price-up. It is a 98-cent price-up. That is the case because of the 8.517 percent Tulsa sales tax rate applied to the cost of the meal. The additional cost of my daily lunches grows from $328.50 to about $356.50 when tax is included.

Because Taco Bueno increased its prices, government gets a windfall. I---the unfortunate consumer---experience an annual tax increase of about $28 just for buying lunch. No vote. No increase in the tax rate. But my tax bill goes up 28 bucks. The tax increase is built into the system.

The State Legislature has repeatedly refused to remove sales taxes from food. The cost of food has spiked of late, and is expected to continue to rise. That means your taxes are increasing daily, and will continue to increase over time as long as sales taxes exist.

State and local governments should not be looking to increase sales taxes for any reason. And we damn sure don't need a federal sales tax of 23 percent installed, as the "fair taxers" advocate, which would set the total sales tax rate in Tulsa at 31.517 percent.

Sales taxes are incredibly damaging to individuals, and they are incredibly damaging to an economy in general. Sales taxes should not be increased. They should, in fact, be abolished completely.

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