Cascade Tax

One kind of cascade: the glamorous, Martha Stewart-type image of expensive, bubbly champagne cascading down a towering display of fine crystal glasses. This definition represents another type. Cascade in this context means something more like a fountain of cheap Boone's Farm served in red solo cups. While it creates higher tax revenue for the glorious government, the spillage of the noxious, multiplying, tax burden is ultimately imposed on the unwary consumer, wreaking havoc on their pockets by kicking them in the ass with an inflationary tax hangover.

And it goes something like this: You own a nice business selling nutrient-rich mulch and organic plants to local horticulturalists. But the government imposes a 4% cascade tax on your products. You sell some mulch and plants to Farmer Dell down the street for a tax inclusive price of $520 ($500 + cascade tax .04%). Farmer Dell would like to make a $1,000 profit from his lovely greenery (less his initial investment), so he sells his lush crops to the local grocer for a tax inclusive price of $1,581 ($520 + $1,000 + cascade tax .04%). The grocer needs to make a profit too of course, and sells her recently purchased produce to the new California Cabbage restaurant that just opened for $3,724 ($1582 + $2,000 profit + cascade tax .04%).

All in all, here's what the government has already made on their cascade tax before you've even made a reservation for two: $20 + $61 + $143 = $234...We don't know about you, but we'd prefer to have free champagne "drunch" with Martha Stewart.