What many people on HN realize is that whoever collects a tax is not the same as who bears the burden of the tax. It makes zero difference whether money is coll

What many people on HN realize is that whoever collects a tax is not the same as who bears the burden of the tax. It makes zero difference whether money is collected from restaurants or patrons. Both restaurants and patrons bear the tax and the proportion born by each is a function of substitutability ratios. It is not a function which of the two pays a fee. If 100% of the money collected from restaurants were to be shifted to being collected from patrons, restaurants would not and will not save money from this shift. The very basic concepts of tax incidence or things like the law of supply are unfortunately mysteries that appear to be forever hidden from journalists and government workers.