D.C. Councilman: "We Tax Things We Want to Discourage"

Washington D.C. residents can expect increases in their taxes soon. Via the Washington Examiner:

The D.C. Council plans to increase the city's sales, cigarette and gas taxes to bridge a massive deficit in fiscal 2010 and avoid a raid on coveted reserve funds.

After three days of "painful" and often heated talks, council members slashed roughly $300 million from the 2010 budget.

But they were still short an estimated $40 million, which they needed to raise through so-called "revenue enhancements" to avoid further cuts or a dip into the rainy day fund, as Mayor Adrian Fenty has suggested.

The council's collective decision to jack up the sales tax from 5.75 to 6 percent, the cigarette tax from $2 to $2.50 a pack and the gas tax from 20 cents to 23.5 cents a gallon would generate an estimated $34 million combined, according to the finance office.

About the tax increases, chairman of the health committee David Catania said, "We tax the things we want to discourage."

A question: If D.C. does indeed have a sizable rainy day fund, wouldn't the time to dip into it be now— rather than taxing the wazoo out of Washingtonians?

Reason's archive on the failures of the D.C. city council here.