Montana Dems deliver a big "f you" to Wal-Mart

[knuckle50]

I love it:

Montana Bill Would Use Tax on Big-Box Stores to Offset Welfare Expenses Paid to Low-Wage, Part-Time Employees

Montana taxpayers are tired of subsidies for big-box stores, whose low prices and big profits depend on their low wages and public assistance for their workers, says state Democratic Senator Ken Toole, sponsor of a bill that would offset these welfare costs by charging Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and similar stores a 1 percent tax on more than $20 million in sales, 1.5 percent on more than $30 million and 2 percent on more than $40 million.

The tax, reports Reuters from Montana, would apply to stores more than 25 percent of whose employees work part time and whose full-time employees make less than $22,000 a year. Citing research that found state taxpayers spend about $421,000 a year for every Wal-Mart store with 200 employees, Senator Toole estimates that the tax would affect 160 stores -- about half of Montana retail -- and raise some $20 million annually.

For those of you who haven't heard, the Montana Democratic Party took over the Governorship, as well as the state House and Senate in one fell swoop in 2004

[Spartan]

That sounds good, but could it hurt retail and the economy in general in Montana?