EDITORIAL: More Seattle business owners fight back against the regulatory state

Last week, we noted how Costco stores in Seattle refused to play along when local Nanny Staters imposed a massive new tax on soda. The retailer explicitly began itemizing the new levy on its price tags, ensuring that consumers were fully informed regarding the soaring cost of their favorite sugary beverages.

In that same spirit, a Seattle small-business owner has begun his own protest over the city’s hyperactive regulatory apparatus.

David Jones owns a Subway restaurant in Seattle, where progressive local pols have outlawed most jobs that pay less than $15 an hour. The chain recently started a national ad push touting a handful of foot-long sandwiches for $4.99.

But Reason magazine reports that Mr. Jones won’t be participating in the promotion. A sign inside his store explains: “The cost of doing business in the city of Seattle is very high” thanks to “the highest minimum wage in the nation, paid sick leave, ACA, secure scheduling, soda tax and much more.”

Liberals have deluded themselves into believing that the government can pile mandate after mandate upon the entrepreneurial class with no ill effects. But, as Reason observes, “if the cost of doing business continues to climb, workers will be hurt, not helped.”

That’s why it’s difficult not to conclude that today’s progressives would much prefer to wallow in smug self-satisfaction than ponder the real-world ramifications of their destructive edicts.