Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The meals tax proposal in Mathews seems simple enough; 4 percent for each hamburger that we buy downtown. That’s to help our schools we’re told (well, maybe some other stuff too, but think of the children).

In addition to our 4 percent, there is the time, effort and expense to the hamburger vendor to figure, levy, collect and account for that 4 percent; and the cost of that isn’t covered by the 4 percent, so the price of the hamburger has to go up a bit to cover those costs.

Then that 4 percent has to be sent off to the Mathews County Treasurer’s Office, already so overworked, likely requiring additional personnel to receive, tabulate and account for that 4 percent. Only then does it appear as spendable assets to the county.

True enough though, the price increase required on that hamburger to cover vendor costs associated with the tax, is, itself, taxed at 4 percent, which augments the original 4 percent; maybe by enough to cover the...