Lying to steal your money

There are few issues that polarize political opposites to support
each other's position, but taxes -- or rather, tax increases --
is one such issue. Whether you view yourself politically as "right,"
"left," or "center" of the "mainstream" political crowd, the thought of
having to pay even more of your hard earned money to some political
entity or bureaucratic boob is unpalatable.

Maybe that's why there is a new tax increase strategy being
developed -- somebody finally figured out that regardless of a
taxpayer's political leanings, fewer and fewer Americans are convinced
"things will get better" if only we allow government stooges to heist
more of our dough and spend it on ... whatever.

Sadly, though, this new strategy -- avoiding any mention of
unfavorable political considerations -- is a sure sign of the times that
modern American political generalship is evolving in exactly the wrong
direction. The new emphasis is going to be centered on more secrecy and
debauchery rather than more openness and honesty. In many ways, we can
blame the impeached President Clinton and his era of criminal behavior
for much of the reason why political consultants feel the need to advise
their clients to hide what they're doing, especially if it is unpopular
with people. They have become afraid to be honest with us
because, they believe, honesty won't get them their way. That is a
dangerous assumption and it presupposes that most folks aren't smart
enough to figure out what they do and don't want government to do for
them.

Specifically though, on the issue of taxes, haven't the president and
big government supporters said, "The American People" don't want
"debilitating" tax cuts -- implying that we're "all" happy with
the current level of taxation? Haven't they proclaimed that "The
American People" want government to continue fleecing them for all kinds
of failed social and political programs? Yes, yes -- I'm sure
I've heard them say these things recently.

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So if that's the case, why are tax issue consultants now telling
their clients to hide what they're doing? Simple -- just refer to the
first paragraph of this column.

As Jeremy Lott of SpinTech magazine pointed out this week, Americans are
already reeling from the highest level of peacetime taxation ever.
Again -- it's no wonder tax measure consultants want their clients to
lie to the public in order to steal more of their money.

You know, advocating or actually doing something like this
used to be called fraud and it assumes that Americans --
who will eventually see the new tax on their tax bills -- won't "catch
on" to what these government boobs have done to them. Furthermore, it
assumes that the people won't be even more upset when they find out
after the fact they've been fleeced again. Is this the ultimate
scam or what?

As I pointed out in a story
earlier this week, every time taxes are raised the politicians spend
more money. And usually they end up spending more than they collect in
new taxes, leading them to ask the people for even more of their
money. It's a never-ending cycle; can you remember the last time the
government -- any government -- allowed a tax to sunset without
renewing it and, in some cases, expanding it? Neither can I.

A recent Florida State University study said that seven of the last
nine states to initiate a statewide income tax had significant declines
in personal income, coupled with a dramatic rise in state expenditures.
In my own home state of Missouri, the state budget has grown some 50
percent under liberal Gov. Mel Carnahan (who now wants to take his big
government spending ways to the U.S. Senate). And as my recent story
about Tennessee pointed out, government expenditures there have risen
some 26 percent under the administration of a governor who can otherwise
arguably be called a conservative. Still, the governor of the Volunteer
State, predictably, wants a huge new tax so he can spend huge new
amounts of money.

Why are politicians so enamored with the notion of stealing more of
our wages in the form of new taxes when Americans are already taxed too
much as it is? Why do some Americans continue to fall for every tax lie
spoken to them? Why do some people still believe the bureaucrats and
politicians when they say more taxes are "needed"? And why do people
still think politicians are capable of frugal spending after decades of
fraud, abuse and waste on the bureaucratic level?

It's time for the American people to tell their local, state and
federal lawmakers that enough is enough. When it reaches the point where
leaders have to lie and obfuscate in order to pass new tax measures,
obviously they've asked us for too much, and they've asked us too often.

Not only that, but it's time to send a message: "No more new money."
Politicians can either get by with what they're presently taking from us
or get rid of the dead weight -- and there's plenty of that to go
around. Perhaps they can begin with trimming their own staffs; it's not
like they go out of their way to stay in touch with their constituents.
Ostensibly, that's why lawmakers have such large staffs to begin with,
but that's another story.

I've said it before -- the more money Americans agree to give to
government, be it local, state or federal, the more control government
will have over our lives. If they're not using our money to
"buy" loyalty, then they're using it to fund bureaucracies and agencies
that do nothing but write rules and regulations prohibiting us from
doing all kinds of innocuous things the anointed just don't happen to
like. It's the ultimate form of "people control." Furthermore, no
matter how much of our money the bureaucrats and politicians get, it
never -- never -- seems to be enough to satisfy their insatiable
appetites.