I am tired of the myth that liberals want the rich to pay more taxes. And that it is accepted as gospel, or worse, scientific consensus. It's complete hogwash.

I originally wrote this in response to a question as to why liberals would oppose a flat consumption tax, as it would be a very progressive tax in that it would be born more by the rich, who consumer more, than the poor, who consume less. To the questioners mind, 'this is what liberals want isn't it?'

No it isn't. Liberals don't want the rich to pay more taxes. They just want us moronic voters to think that they want the rich to pay more taxes, and it's worked like a charm for a very long time, right?

'Investment' is liberal code for 'spending we like'. Whereas 'loophole' is liberal code for 'spending we don't like', though I must confess to being hard pressed to identify much spending that liberals don't like, so I think what this means is spending on 'the rich' that we can blame on evil Republicans, but the rich still vote so we are reluctant to alienate them completely. Yes, I know, technically a 'loophole' isn't spending at all, rather the government allowing you keep a little more of your own money, but remember, we're talking about liberals here and to them it isn't 'your' money we're talking about, it's 'our' money, so allowing you to keep more of it has, is, and will remain, to them, 'spending'.

In the same vein, why don't liberals want means testing for Social Security and Medicare? So they can say that they are programs that benefit 'everybody' (and as they do in fact benefit the rich, the rich won't oppose them, though they are still, in net, wealth redistribution schemes, although, interestingly enough, more from young to old than rich to poor, yet somehow, a win for them none the less. I tried, but can't figure this out either.)

But let's get back to the liberal passion for taxing the evil rich. Our tax code is the root all evil, it is most of what ails our country today.

A consumption tax, or even a flat income tax, makes so much sense that it would be DOA immediately upon arrival on Harry Reid's desk (on the off chance it made it that far.) If the Democrats (or even Republican, for that matter,) scrapped our serpentine tax code in favor of something as sensible as you propose it would eliminate the power they have to bestow favors upon those willing to pay lots and lots of money for those favors.

Companies like GE and Google paying ZERO taxes on BILLIONS of dollars of revenue, Democrats 'looking out for the middle class' and 'asking everyone to pay their fair share' notwithstanding. The tax code is, quite simply, the life blood of the crony capitalism that is destroying our Republic and it is what makes a Senate or House seat worth the millions of dollars spent to acquire one. It saddens me to say it but we really do have the best government money can buy.

So I suppose the short answer to the question as to why liberals, or to be completely fair, any politician, would oppose a consumption tax (or even a flat income tax for that matter,) is that it's not about fairness, or about wanting the rich to pay more, they obviously don't. It's about nothing more than power and greed (their code for this is 'public service',) that's all.