"Show me the money" and other leftist dreams

Well, the election is just around the corner. Democrats will now enter the campaign's home stretch with the threat that all of the Bush-era tax rates could expire on January 1. According to The Wall Street Journal, that means the lowest tax bracket would revert to 15% from 10%, the per child tax credit would revert to $500 from $1,000, and millions of middle class families would pay thousands of dollars more in federal taxes. With time running out to plan for 2011, the delay raises uncertainty for small businesses and individual taxpayers over their future liabilities. It also sets up a huge battle over taxes after the election. If returning lawmakers don't pass legislation by Dec. 31, the expiration date of the cuts, tax rates would rise not only on income, but also on estates, capital gains and dividends. Important corporate tax credits and relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax also are up for renewal. This is what the Democrats have given us after two years in charge.

This whole mess reveals a key belief among those on the left. Many of them truly think the country "can't afford" to let Americans keep so much of their own money. Peter Orszag has already admitted this since leaving his post as White House budget director. These Democrats think the only way to pay for their spending plans is by soaking the middle class because that's where the real money is. But they continue talking of taxing just the rich to disguise their hopes of going after the middle class money.

Does “tax the rich” really make fiscal sense? The Journal claims tax data shows that you could have taken 100% of the taxable income of every American who earned more than $500,000 in the boom year of 2006 and still only have raised $1.3 trillion in revenue. That amount would not have closed the budget deficit in either of the last two fiscal years. So why do the liberals keep talking about taxing just the rich if it wouldn’t really solve our budget problems? They know that soaking the middle class is unpopular.

We'll see in November if the American people are truly aware of how hungry the left is for their money.