Conservative
Type 40
Obama's plan: Eat the rich, chain the poor - Opinion - ReviewJournal.com
President Obama is right about one thing: Because we live in a marvelous country with unmatched opportunities, all citizens must to do their "fair share" to support her.
There are only two hitches: The president doesn't really mean it, and there's no consensus on what is "fair."
...the president has plenty to say about the unfairness of billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries, but he goes mute on the unfairness of letting half of American citizens escape without paying a dime in federal income tax.
And therein lies the great divide for the 2012 presidential election. We all want equality, but those who lean toward free enterprise want equality foremost in liberty, and those who lean toward socialism want equality foremost in servitude to the entitlement state.
Reform means that we look at the whole system, loopholes and all, and try to come to a national consensus on what "fair share" really means. It certainly cannot mean that 50 percent of Americans get to pay virtually nothing in income tax for the privilege of living in this country.
The starting point for an honest conversation would be the principle that everyone should pay something in federal income tax. And yes, that means "the poor."