Quoted in James Taranto's indispensible "Best Of The Web" today, Barack Obama does seem to be strongly endorsing a flat tax.*
"Yeah, right," I hear you say. "Don't mess with us, Giacomo. This guy's all about class warfare and redistribution and you expect us to believe he really wants a flat tax?"
Absolutely. From the speech he gave at yesterday's bit of demagoguery** in Cincinnati:
"Now, the Republicans, when I talked about this earlier in the week, they said, well, this is class warfare. You know what, if asking a billionaire to pay their fair share of taxes, to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare, then you know what, I'm a warrior for the middle class."
You see? He wants billionaires to pay the "same tax rate" as a plumber or teacher. The very same rate! Not only that, but he defines paying the same rate as a "fair share" of taxes. Look I think this is something we can all get behind. Let me hear you out there! O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!
*A flat tax, in case you have forgotten, is an income tax system where all taxpayers at all income levels pay the same percentage of their income in taxes. For example, if the rate is 15% and you make $50,000 annually you would pay $7500 to the IRS. If you made $5 million annually you would pay $750,000.
**If you want to see graphically just how classless and undignified is the Obama White House, check out the transcript of those remarks in Cincinnati a little more completely. Here are two excerpts.
THE PRESIDENT: We've got some folks I just want to make sure are acknowledged here today. First of all, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, is in the house. Give him a round of applause. (Applause.) We've got the mayor of the great city of Cincinnati -- Mark Mallory is here. (Applause.) We've got the mayor of Covington, Mayor Denny Bowman. (Applause.) Senator Rand Paul is here.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
And this one:
Behind us stands the Brent Spence Bridge. It’s located on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America. It sees about 150,000 vehicles every single day. And it’s in such poor condition that it's been labeled "functionally obsolete." Think about that -- functionally obsolete. That doesn’t sound good, does it?
AUDIENCE: Nooo!
THE PRESIDENT: It’s safe to --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Kind of like John Boehner. (Laughter.)
Now this, mind you, is the official White House transcript of the remarks, and they think it's appropriate to document that the audience of Obama sycophants and union goons booed Senator Rand Paul, and that an audience member, not an official speaker at the event, made a joke about Speaker John Boehner being "functionally obsolete." As Russell used to say in Bill Cosby's "Fat Albert" cartoon, "You're from the NCAA. No Class At All."