Normally, a tax hike is a classic win-win: The government raises taxes, people pay the higher taxes, and the government gets more revenue, which it uses to stimulate the economy, promote social justice, educate our children, free us from dependence on foreign oil, and provide health care for all.

So how come the theater ticket tax doesn’t work the same way? Is Broadway some kind of Bizarro World where the normal rules of economics are stood on their heads?

Or could it be that this maddeningly counterintuitive phenomenon the Times has identified, in which taxing economic activity actually discourages it, can be found in other areas as well?