In 1996, San Francisco's city budget was $3.1 Billion. This year, it's more than 50% higher at $4.8 Billion. The next fiscal year promises a budget shortfall of $352 Million, and San Francisco liberals are trying to decide just who should pay more. Direct tax increases to citizens are inevitable, but it appears that most of the tax hikes will be born by area businesses.

But John Kosinski, an organizer for SEIU Local 250, representing 15,000 city health care workers, said downtown businesses should pay more. "All (municipal) labor unions gave back last year to help save some of these city programs," Kosinski said, referring to a budget-balancing agreement under which workers, for the first time in years, resumed making contributions to their retirement fund. The city "can't balance the budget on the backs of the workers," he said.

Such is life in liberal la-la-land. Do these people honestly think that workers won't end up paying the price for increased taxation on businesses, or are they trying to deceive the public?

Once again, BUSINESSES DON'T PAY TAXES, THEY COLLECT THEM. Taxes collected by businesses are transferred to customers in the form of higher prices, employees in the form of lower wages and benefits (or less jobs), or shareholders in the form of decreased shareholder equity. Most of the time all three suffer. Kosinski's union constituents may be protected by contracted wages and benefits, which means they'll likely suffer with less jobs (or not as many new jobs). For him to try to claim otherwise means he's either lying or he's stupid.