New Orleans Taxing Local Artists

Found this article while perusing the Bayou Buzz discussion boards. Refers to article by Daniel Grant at PaintingsDirect.com:
"Dean Mitchell, an Overland Park, Kansas painter, whose artwork has been consigned to Bryant Galleries in New Orleans, recently received a tax bill for $8,000 from the City of New Orleans. But this was not a tax on any picture that had sold; it was an inventory tax. "

I gather this is some sort of personal property tax. Legislators have heard about George Bush's "Ownership Society" and it won't be long before there is a tax on owning anything, no matter how tenuous your ownership may be. Why not tax your personal space? The law says that a trespass upon your personal space is an assault. Therefore, you 'own' that space. Therefore your ownership should be taxed. I'm going to tell Warren Buffet about this.