You will search hard in the media for an explanation that the "tea parties" held nationally relate to the Boston Tea Party, the anti-tax protest that helped spark the Revolutionary War. If one merely assumes that everyone--including the young--know the historical reference, I think one might be wrong. Unfortunately.
One also searches hard in news accounts for accurate total numbers of attendees at various "tea party" protests yesterday--IRS tax day. Newspaper reports covered the "few hundred" in front of the White House, as if the world inside the Beltway was all that mattered, and suggested that only "tens of thousands" protested nationwide. But Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax reform estimates--from press reports as well as on the site accounts--that over a quarter of a million participated.
Finally, no one really tells us how much taxes Americans really are paying. Claims that taxes are historically low right now reflect the leftover tax rates from the Bush years, not what is happening right now in municipal governments, county governments, and state governments, as well as what is coming the from federal government, where the plan is to raise taxes on the rich. By all means, soak the rich, but aren't those the very people we count on to invest in enterprises that might make new jobs?
As for the rest of us, pledges of "no new taxes" for people who make under $250,000 a household omit indirect tax hikes, fee increases and hidden taxes making their way in Congress now; for example, the energy price hikes expected for everyone in all brackets if Cap and Trade passes.
Then there is the potential hidden tax of inflation once the trillions being authorized now get spent. We are told that it won't be a problem because of the recession. Really?
I'll grant that a good strong recession will hold back inflation for a while. Oh, and it also will reduce the problem of traffic congestion, the wait for reservations at restaurants (those still open) and check out lines at supermarkets. Hooray!
But meanwhile, surely people are not crazed or selfish to worry about their tax burden during the same hard recession.
