Dems failing economics

State lawmakers, especially those of the Democratic persuasion, are fairly salivating over an upcoming vote on a proposed income tax surcharge that would take anywhere from $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion out of the pockets of Massachusetts taxpayers.

The measure needs only one more round of approval by the state House and Senate meeting in Constitutional Convention — likely next week — before it could go on the November 2018 ballot.

And while it’s billed as a 4 percent surtax on “millionaires,” it would also cut into the earnings of many small businesses — yes, the prime generators of new jobs in the region.

Gov. Charlie Baker said in a WCVB-TV interview aired Sunday, “There are a lot of people that have spent that millionaire’s tax six ways to Sunday already, and it hasn’t even made it to the ballot yet.

“I think what we ought to do is focus on what we need to do to balance out fiscal ’17, which ends in about a month, and put a balanced budget in place for fiscal ’18 and not go back to the taxpayers thinking that they should be the source of all our solutions.”

Ah, if only he could convince Democrats in the Legislature of the wisdom of that. But living within the state’s means has never been their strong suit. And when you can label something a “millionaire’s tax,” well, some folks are actually going to think that’s just a fine way to do business in this state.

Apparently few Democrats on Beacon Hill see the irony in courting an industry giant like General Electric then whacking its executives with a whopping new bill for creating jobs here.

But then the economics of taxation isn’t their strong suit either. Spending, yep, that’s what they’re good at.