The Left’s message to wealth creators has hardened into, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass!”Once upon a time, radicals who achieved or aspired to elected office concealed their fiscal militancy behind a screen of social conscience. They dressed it up as the unavoidable if regrettable consequence of a virtuous desire to help the needy. It has to be said, however, that the regret never really rang true.Then, later, when data showed with increasing clarity that tax hikes reduced revenues (whereas cuts generated more), the Left’s champions retreated behind “fairness.” For the past several decades, Democrats who’ve avoided saying the rich should “pay their fair share” have been rarer than sobriety over spring break.
During a 2008 Democratic primary debate, for example, soon-to-be President Barack Obama — a smooth, narcissistic, and emollient radical if ever there was one — was asked whether he’d raise taxes even though they didn’t raise revenues and might lower them. He replied, “I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.” He regarded taxes less as a means of raising money to pay for government necessities than as a tool with which to flatten society and prevent the successful from getting too far ahead.
