Punishing wealthy a senseless idea

Fence Post contributor Russell Crom supports an idea of CBS's Dave Ross that calls for Bush's tax cuts to be extended for a year with strings attached. It would demand that the wealthy use their tax savings to put people to work, lest their tax be doubled the following year.

For both Ross and Crom, this represents two typical leftist misunderstandings. The first is that anyone has a right to tell another person how to spend his or her money. That's what tax money is, after all. It's our money. It's bad enough government uses money it gets from taxing us in ways we don't approve. People like Crom and Ross also believe the government should dictate the use of money it doesn't tax as well.

The second problem is that Crom doesn't understand how taxation affects tax revenues. Because the wealthy got the cuts, they were able to be more productive. The result was that the top 1 percent to 5 percent generated more tax revenues than they had before the cuts.

Here's a better idea: Crom and Ross should sweat and sacrifice and work long hours to create their own businesses where they can deny themselves the fruits of their labors in order to employ as many people as they like and stop pretending they have any right to tell others how to contribute or how much.

Art Casper

Palatine