Bachmann can't make her mind up on taxes

Republican presidential candidates have been resolutely opposed to tax increases in the debate over the nation’s budget straits, but Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann this week suggested there’s one group that needs to be paying more: poor people who pay nothing now. At a town-hall meeting Tuesday given by the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce in Columbia, a questioner noted that major U.S. corporations are paying “very few dollars of federal income taxes, if any.” He prefaced his point by saying the Bible advises us to render unto Caesar what Caesar is due. Ms. Bachmann turned the conversation elsewhere: “Part of the problem is today, only 53% pay any federal income tax at all; 47% pay nothing,” the former federal tax attorney said. “We need to broaden the base so that everybody pays something, even if it’s a dollar.”

In case you needed any more evidence that a principle tenet of the modern GOP is to transfer ever-increasing amounts of wealth upward from the poor and the middle class to the economic elites, along comes Michele Bachmann to provide all the evidence you could ever need. And you know it's especially bad when Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal feels the need to weigh in:

This is Bachmann logic: wealthy corporations paying no income taxes isn't a problem, but poor people who don't even make enough to pay income taxes or who have their tax burden wholly offset by deductions like, for example, taking care of children—well, those worthless losers had better start funneling more money up the supply chain, in Bachmann's worldview.

The best part? Raising taxes on the poor will be good for them, because it'll mean the rich won't have to pay as much—which is good for poor people, because:

Doug Sachtleben, a campaign spokesman, said Ms. Bachmann believes “everyone benefits from taxes paid into the system, and everybody should participate.” But, he said, that would ultimately redound to the benefit of the poor. A fairer, simpler, flatter tax system would ease the hit on “job creators” and boost the economy, which would raise all boats, he said.

Got that? If you're struggling to get by, your problem is that not enough of your money is going to pad the coffers of rich people. Just a little bit more, says Bachmann, and they'll create a better job for you. Because it's exactly like the Heritage Foundation says: if you have a ceiling fan and a microwave, what the hell are you complaining about?