The Taxman in Chief

Nancy Pelosi was on CBS’ “Face the Nation” last weekend, preparing the battlefield for the upcoming fiscal fight. Like a solder following her Commander in Chief, Nancy Pelosi dutifully laid down a marker that Democrats in Congress want to raise even more taxes on the wealthy. This opening salvo didn’t just come from the former Speaker of the House acting alone but was obviously planned and orchestrated by the White House. 

President Obama as Taxman in Chief sees that after a victory on the “Fiscal Cliff Compromise,” he should keep up the pressure on House and Senate Republicans. Why wouldn’t he? He won on raising taxes and made Republicans go back on a central tenet of their platform. Democrats simply need more revenue to pay for their Big Government policies and believe they have the wind at their backs. Republicans gave them an inch, now they are going to try to take a mile.

Like after their victories in 2006 and 2008, Democrats in Washington are standing tall and will no doubt overreach as they have done in the past. Just this week, the “trillion dollar coin” phenomenon has taken over the left’s political class. What started on a blog is now being talked about by the likes of Mr. Ivory Tower himself – Paul Krugman.

A little known loophole lets the United States Treasury Department mint an unlimited amount of coins if they are made out of platinum. The Treasury Department can then give those platinum coins any value it wants. Some Democrats are advocating minting two platinum coins and give them a value of $1 trillion each. Once minted, these trillion dollar coins then can be deposited into the Federal Reserve and alleviate the debt ceiling until the next time we approach it. 

Only in Washington would such a harebrain idea actually be discussed, and only Democrats would actually believe it would work. Real reforms need to be made, from cutting entitlements to making responsible cuts at the Defense Department. Citizens United has launched a national survey that asks Americans whether raising taxes would ease Washington’s spending problem and what should be cut from the budget. I have a hunch that the Taxman in Chief would want more taxes rather than vote for entitlement reform. What would you vote for?