Has the Journal Gazette EVER Disagreed with a Tax Increase

I continue to disagree with the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's editorial page. Today they advocate, once again, for a tax increase that will hurt businesses and therefore hurt economic development. They seem to agree that it's a good idea to increase the circuit breaker from 2% to 3% for businesses. For those that don't know, the circuit breaker is a state law that was passed to limit the amount of property taxes we must pay to no more than 2%.

Now, the state is changing the law to increase the maximum rate for businesses to 3%. This is a potential 50% property tax increase on local businesses. Does anyone stop to think about the adverse impact this would have on businesses? Isn't it reasonable to assume that some will be put out of business and/or choose to open their doors somewhere else? The JG obviously doesn't think so:

That’s why a compromise that preserves the circuit-breaker but blunts its worst effects is about the best anyone could have hoped to achieve in the recently ended legislative session. Residential property owners will still see their property tax bills capped at 2 percent, but the cap for businesses and rental properties is raised to 3 percent, effective in 2010.

The effects won’t be known until those values are final, but the higher cap minimizes the damage to local government budgets.

Ah yes, heaven forbid we damage the local government's budget - THAT must be protected. But businesses that provide jobs, in a state with a horrible job creation record, well to hell with them.

Such is the logic of the JG editorial board that's never seen a tax increase it didn't like...