As we listen to calls by President Obama to examine -- with the intent of getting rid of -- some of the tax breaks in our country (in other words, some people's taxes are going to go up), it strikes one as particularly ironic that he's pushing this rhetoric during the weekend where we celebrate our independence from England -- a revolution that started in part because we thought we were being taxed unjustly.
Does this sound like the rhetoric that made America great to you?
President Obama: Now, it would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can’t afford them. Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or for hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, or for oil and gas companies pulling in huge profits without our help – then we’ll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else. We’ve got to say to a student, ‘You don’t get a college scholarship.’ We have to say to a medical researcher, ‘You can’t do that cancer research.’ We might have to tell seniors, ‘You have to pay more for Medicare.’
There's a reason Americans are so sensitive when we talk about taxes. It's in our national psyche: "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. ... For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent."