Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, which includes Pittsburgh, instituted a 10 percent tax on alcoholic drinks this year. The local restaurant and bar owners obtained twice as many signatures as required to put a referendum on the ballot asking simply whether the tax should be reduced to 0.5 percent. The county council, trying to preempt this, created their own referendum asking whether to replace the drink tax with an increase in property taxes. Now the county solicitor is further attempting to stop the tax cut referendum by claiming that it’s illegal since it doesn’t raise taxes elsewhere to make up for the shortfall that would be brought about if the drink tax were to be reduced to 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, these same “public servants” prattle endlessly about the glories of democracy; but what good is democracy if the voters are only allowed to choose from the questions and candidates the powers that be permit to appear on the ballot?

Apparently, when it comes to taxes, they are only supposed to increase, or at least remain constant. Of course, for this to happen the taxpayers’ bank accounts have to decrease, but that’s okay. We peons should be expected to make do with less, but government never should.