May 1, 2007

Here’s some big news. If a democrat is elected president next year – he, or she – is likely to raise taxes. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said so over the weekend. Oh, he said he would only raise taxes on the rich, the standard democratic boilerplate line. He wants to return taxes to the clinton levels. Bill clinton once told a group of houston business leaders he thought he had raised their taxes too much.

The question ought not to be about taxes. The question ought to be about spending. The government spends too much and never has enough of our money. No matter how much we pay them it is never enough and the successful are told they should pay more so congress can misspend it on pork projects and the poor. According to the democratic left, we will always have the poor with us. That’s because their anti-poverty programs keep people in poverty and democrats tell them if they don’t vote democratic, republicans will cutoff their checks.

It is such a lie – about taxes and poverty. The economy is roaring along, not because of tax increases, but because of tax cuts.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.