Reprinted from NewsMax.com

Taxpayers Socked as Establishment Celebrates

Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, April 15, 2003

WASHINGTON – As taxpayers were rushing to pay through the nose by the midnight filing deadline, the left-wing establishment was cheering their fiscal subservience to the greed of the government behemoth.

While politicians were making insider deals to water down President Bush's tax cut, one congressman was demanding more accountability from elected officials who are quick to hand that same taxpayer a higher bill. Meanwhile, a top House leader backs efforts to scrap the entire tax system.

The insider deal involves three Republican senators. Senate Finance Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Ia., agreed to use his clout to scale back the president’s tax cut by more than half in return for votes to pass a Fiscal Year 2004 budget. The Wall Street Journal says the arrangement was sealed with a handshake with Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Me., and Geroge Voinovich, R-Ohio. The latter two are GOP holdouts against the president’s full $726 billion package.

The president himself has settled now for no less than $550 billion. This followed a House vote to compromise at that figure after the House leadership had made noises about exceeding the president’s proposal in an effort to “start high” before “compromising” with the Senate. That idea did not get past the House "moderates" (i.e., liberals).

Bush: Tax Relief to Create Jobs

In a White House Rose Garden appearance Tuesday, Bush said a meaningful tax cut was needed “right away’ to benefit 92 million American taxpayers and create 1.4 million jobs by the end of 2004.

While average taxpayers were wading through the labyrinth of a confusing tax code to come up with enough of their hard-earned dollars to satisfy the IRS, the left-wing media were crowing about the Senate’s lower $350 billion scaleback.

“Fiscal sanity in the Senate,” intoned the New York Times from its lofty perch at Times Square.

“A devastating setback for the president’s tax cutting agenda,” gloated CNN, whose credibility, or what was left of it, was recently shot when one of its executives admitted the network had covered up Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's atrocities.

How About Tax Day Right Before Election Day?

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., says that if the politicians in Washington think high taxes are so sacrosanct, let them put that dogma to the ultimate test: the ballot box. His bill, H.R. 1725, would shift the tax deadline day from April 15 to the first Monday in November, the day before Election Day.

April 15, says Congressman Bartlett, “is now about as far removed from Election Day as you can get on the calendar.” Moving it to the day before voters go to the polls would enable the high taxers to put their political fortunes where mouths are.

All of this is interesting and deals with today’s tax dilemma: The people are paying far too much in taxes, while many politicians, egged on by the elite media, are turning a deaf ear to their cries for help.

Or Better Yet ...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has joined a growing effort to get to the bottom of the problem: Do away with the entire federal income tax system. That includes personal, payroll, corporate, self-employment, capital gains, gift and inheritance taxes.

The Fair Tax Bill, H.R. 25, is gaining an impressive bipartisan list of co-sponsors. But the main push for this movement is coming from the grassroots. NewsMax.com went to that source for details on this 21st century tax revolt.

“It’s called KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid,” says retired stockbroker George Gettemuller. “There are 63 pages in that law. There are 4,000 in the income tax [code], and it still isn’t understood by most of the people who try to enforce it.”

Next: Details on the Fair Tax Bill.

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Media Bias
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