Tax cheats embraced by Barack Obama

Boston Herald ^ | 2/4/09 | Jonah Goldberg

[xtinct]

During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden insisted that paying taxes is a patriotic duty. No, scratch that. He said that supporting a tax hike was the American thing to do. “It’s time to be patriotic,” he told America’s putative tax slackers. When asked whether he might be questioning the patriotism of people who don’t want higher taxes, Biden took things to the next rhetorical level. Forget patriotism, said Joe, paying higher taxes is a religious obligation to help your fellow man.

So the senator who gave an average of $369 a year to charity over the previous decade fulfills a religious obligation by cutting a tax check to Uncle Sam - a check he’s required to cut by law.

It’s always perilous to take Biden’s statements too seriously, but it does seem eminently fair to say that his comments reflect a common, though perhaps not universal, attitude among Democrats. “Taxes are what you pay to be an American” - like “membership fees,” says Democratic language guru George Lakoff.

President Obama merely says taxes are necessary to “spread the wealth,” which is better for everybody.

Now, whatever the best articulation of liberal attitudes toward taxation may be, reasonable people can agree that Democrats inject a lot of moralizing finger-wagging into the issue.

[xtinct]

Average person would be in serious trouble if s/he made the kind of tax mistakes that Daschle and Geithner claim to have made.

And, Biden's $369 per year to charity is a joke based on his income... hypocrite!!

Proven fact that in MA charitable giving is done by conservatives not the tax and spend liberals.

[livius]

$369 per year? That would include his church contributions, too. I wonder if his bishop and pastor know that. Maybe his disobedient positions on Church doctrine aren’t sufficient to bother them, but his lousy contributions certainly would!

[Need4Truth]

Oh dear, this stuff might hit critical mass. Isn’t there a Republican somewhere that the dims can aim this spotlight at? /sarc

[bushfamfan]

They are searching alright. They need Palin back in the news and try to drag her there. Quite a revelation to the masses that the Demonrats like to push for patriotic taxes at every turn and we learn that they can do that because they don’t pay them!

[gakrak]

Not to worry, he had a great roll model in Algore, who also gave very very little to charity. On the other hand our little middle income family gave 25 times his donations. Amen

[wastoute]

Zero needs to have an immediate, open, transparent IRS audit of every Dem politician in DC and all their staff. One that everyone can log into and see for themselves. Otherwise we can all be Dem appointees and congresscritters.

Μολὼν λάβε

[IamConservative]

We should adopt the following vis-a-vis Democrats on taxes:

“Do as we say, not as we pay.”

It is beginning to look like taxes are only for Republicans. The vast majority of Dem constituents pay not taxes and it appears those they support pay none either.

[LibLieSlayer]

evil is as evil does... and hussein and his people come from the well of evil.

LLS