In February, this newspaper and others took Finance Minister and now Premier Paula Cox to task for raising taxes, and especially the payroll tax, in the Budget when the Island was in recession.The criticism was twofold. First, raising taxes when individuals and employers are already under stress is bad politics and runs the risk of delaying any recovery. Secondly, it seemed likely that the move would be revenue neutral the amount of money actually raised would be about the same as before the tax was raised because many employers faced with a higher tax bill and lower revenues would end up laying staff off and thus would avoid paying higher taxes.To some degree this seems to have happened.Ms Cox said on Friday in answers to questions from Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell that Government had taken in $446 million between March and the end of September, the first half of the 2010-11 financial year, 3.5 percent more than in the same period in 2009-10.She was also right in stating that historically, a greater proportion of taxes will be collected in the second half of the financial year, including taxes and fees from international companies, which were increased in the Budget. It is also likely that many people are being slower in paying their taxes than normal, which may contribute to the apparent lag in revenues, which were expected to rise by nine percent year over year.Some of that surge in revenue may well come in the second half of the year, but the outlook is still poor. That’s because many of the areas where the Government is expecting to see revenue increase are struggling. That’s because there are 1,000 fewer work permits now than there were a year ago, which means Immigration fees may well fall. The expectation that foreign currency purchase tax revenue, will rise after the tax was doubled may well fall short because imports, which are purchased with foreign currency, have slumped by almost ten percent while foreign travel is also down.Payroll tax, which was expected to provide the bulk of the increase in revenue, may not reach expectations as a result of job losses an d the departures from some senior executives from international companies.So, although revenue shortfalls may not be as bad as the BDA projected on Friday, it is difficult to feel much optimism there.That makes the recent actions of the Corporation of Hamilton all the more mystifying. Faced with its own revenue shortfalls, primarily from wharfage (which is directly correlated to the slump in imports) the Corporation said last week that it will be hiking parking fees and will also be raising property taxes by 2.5 percent.To be fair the Corporation did cut its own budget by 11.5 percent to $23 million. That left it with a projected surplus of $53,000, which is easily spent. So the Corporation says it has no option but to raise taxes.But, as with Government, this may turn out to be revenue neutral. The jump in parking fees could discourage commuters from parking all day, which would be welcome from an environmental perspective, but bad from a revenue one. Shoppers too could be discouraged, which will hurt the already struggling retail sector.Similarly, businesses who pay Corporation taxes will be unhappy with the rise in tax. Struggling businesses may find that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back, and there are enough empty offices and storefronts in Hamilton already.To be sure, the Corporation, which is a very lean operation to begin with, may feel there is no more fat to cut. But in the case of both Government and the Corporation, the real answer lies in getting the economy going again, and that depends, at least in part, in giving individuals and businesses reasons to spend and to invest. A higher tax has never been a reason for that.