The Tax on Patience is more than 6.5%

I'm as passionate about social issues as the next powerliberal, but let's be honest for a moment. Politics is about money, plain and simple.

Unfortunately, that means that politicians are even less honest about this issue than normal. "Abstinence-only education works" is a little white lie compared to whoppers like "we have progressive taxation," or "this bill is a job killer."

Since all of the tax rhetoric has been getting pretty fevered lately, I'm going to make my miniscule contribution to calling out the liars when they make themselves known.

To that end, I'm introducing the official Taxing my Patience Award (the TPA). This award goes out to particularly egregious examples of people lying about taxes or else actually rigging the tax system to be more unfair than it already is.

If I had introduced this award yesterday, the hands down winner would have been Katherine Kersten for her article The Poor Should Just Be Happy The Rich Let Them Live Out Their Miserable Little Lives.

Alas, I was a day late with this.

No worries, though, because Rep. Phil Krinkie (R-Wingnutopia) steps up to the plate today and knocks one out of the park with his bill to make it more difficult for the State to catch Income Tax cheats.

Way to go, Phil. You'll be getting your award in the mail just as soon as I figure out what it should be. A bronzed 1040 form, perhaps? Suggestions anyone?

Anyway, if you doubt my assertion about the fairness of our tax system (or even if you don't) you really should read Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston.

A fun game to play is to see how far you can make it in the book before you have to put it down in disgust. This book is really an excellent read regarding the nuts and bolts of how the more money you make, the less taxes you pay, and why that's not really a good thing for the rest of us.