Cecil’s column on gasohol contains this peculiar statement: ``It’s estimated that the excise exemption alone costs U.S. taxpayers as much as $1.4 billion per year.’’ Surely the distinctive thing about a tax exemption is that it does not cost the taxpayers.
Yes, we all know what he really means: that whenever one taxpayer is relieved of a burden, it must be imposed on someone else. That would make sense if spending were fixed. If only it were! But whenever there’s a new dollar of revenue, legislators seem to think they’re slacking if they don’t find ways to spend at least another dollar and a quarter.