Thank you for your comments on my post. You are obviously highly intelligent and have excellent taste.

Unfortunately, I must agree that tax policy, as it is currently practiced, is a method of spreading the wealth. Would you not agree that it should be used as a method to fund the functions of government in the least onerous fashion possible?

Instead, tax policy is nothing more than a cudgel used to “get even with” one segment of society. We have allowed our politicians to buy the votes of the theoretical “have-nots” with cash confiscated from the “haves”.

Taxation, as you rightly point out as a matter of method and degree, always involves confiscating the wealth, in whatever amount, of individual citizens in order to fund the functions of government that benefit all. When Obama speaks of “spreading the wealth around” he is not talking about gathering funds to make sure the schools stay open and the roads are plowed in the winter. He is talking about the reordering of society through an attempt at social engineering via the tax system.

That which you punish, you get less of. That which you reward, you get more of. Obama has proved that he understands this concept because he has backed off of his stance of raising taxes on high earners, at least for the short term, because he has admitted that to do so would further imperil the already sluggish economy. This begs the question - if increasing taxes right now on those who are the highest producers would hurt the economy, when is it ever a good idea to do so?