Tax Day

Man oh man, we're half way through April and I haven't blogged once. I keep promising to get back here and catch up. And I will. But this will just be a short note written during my lunch hour (half hour actually; and half over already at that).

All the presidential candidates are talking about taxes today. It's April 15, so go figure. Barak is saying that if we can spend $10 billion monthly in Iraq, we can do so to build American infrastructure. I buy that to a degree; we are borrowing that much for Iraq, and would have to either raise taxes or continue borrowing that money if we were to spend it on infrastructure. That's even if Iraq were to go bye bye. Now the fact is, we must raise taxes. But that tax raise must be a roll-back of Republican tax cuts, not increased taxes on the working/middle classes. And I'm not entirely against borrowing some of the money. At least it would be money spent building our ability to create wealth instead of spending it on bombs.

The one that really gets me, though, is McCain's proposal to roll back gas taxes for the summer months to help American citizens and the economy. The worst part of this proposal is that it will sound so inviting to a very large sector of the American public, when in fact it should cause revolt. More on this later (I need to get back to work now).

Later (the following day actually):

I was just reading on Kos how McCain is claiming that cutting the federal gas tax will save motorists as much as 20%. But poor old John was born before math was taught in schools. The federal tax on gasoline is $0.184 per gallon, about 5.4%.

But let's forget about the fuzzy math. McCain pretends (like all Repugnicans) that taxes are the great evil enemy of the middle-class pocket book. With Exxon-Mobile rolling in dough - the most profitable company in world history - they are the real enemy. But how many Americans are going to make that simple leap in logic? How many are going to see that the Republican party has become a shill for big oil (to name one of of their clients), and that it is the height of cynical hypocrisy to offer the public a tax break instead of going after the real crooks instead? And just where does McCain intend to find the money to replace the revenue he will be denying the Federal government by eliminating this tax? From his ass?

No folks. That money will come from our pocket books after all. And it will come with interest owed since it will merely be one more line item on our national debt.

Don't let this pandering liar fool you at the pump. Wake up and smell the dirty oil on his lips.