The problem is not necessarily directly the tax, but the barriers and bureaucracy around it making the whole industry less dynamic. $4 per household is not in i

The problem is not necessarily directly the tax, but the barriers and bureaucracy around it making the whole industry less dynamic. $4 per household is not in itself terrible. The cronyism is also a concern. The reason policies like this are viable politically is because public policy economists are far more comfortable estimating the direct effects of a tax than they are estimating some of the murkier, but nonetheless inevitable implications. 1st year microeconomics students learn to draw the supply and demand curves, draw in the price after tax and calculate lost consumer surplus and profits. It's core economics material.