I wrote about Tom Daschle not paying his taxes on Twitter this morning, but it warrants another mention, this time with a comment from David Boaz at Cato @ Liberty:
I sympathize with anybody trying to hold down his tax bill. Government is too big and too expensive, few of us feel we get our money’s worth from our taxes, and we all have better uses for our money than bridges to nowhere and free condoms. But honestly, shouldn’t people who want to increase taxes on the rest of us — like Daschle, Geithner, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chairman Charles Rangel, Al Franken, Governor David Paterson’s top aide, Democratic National Convention staffers, Al Sharpton, and so on — pay their own taxes? [Links omitted for aesthetics]
Higher taxes are always about forcing the other guy to pay for what you think everyone should have. When it’s not about power, it’s about requiring people to care about the “right” outcomes.
But, never forget that it’s always about power.