(’76 Contributor) As a creative writer, Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin has few peers. However, in his December 3 piece entitled “Duck! Here Comes Extension of Bush–era Tax Cuts”, Mr. Littwin not only wrote creatively, he “created” facts to support his progressive, “soak the rich” nonsense.
At issue is whether or not, during its “lame duck” session, the Congress should extend, temporarily or permanently; in whole or in part, the so–called Bush–era tax cuts passed by an earlier Congress in 2001. Ignoring their wholesale rejection at the polls on November 2, with folks like Mr. Littwin cheering them on, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted 234–188 on December 2 to let many of those 2001 tax cuts expire at the end of this year—a move that would add $700 billion to federal coffers over the next 10 years.
Mr. Littwin contended in his article that “the polls come down clearly on the Democrats’ side” of “soaking the rich” with taxes. That is a product of Mr. Littwin’s “creativity” and is simply not true. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 31 percent of Americans believe the best approach for dealing with the economy is to raise taxes. In contrast, this same Gallup poll reflects that 62 percent of Americans believe that the best way to fix the economy is either through deficit reduction (39 percent) or lower taxes (23 percent).
An opinion article by David Harsanyi in the same December 3 edition of The Denver Post entitled “The Rich Can Afford It; Can We?” had it much closer to the truth. “Progressive taxation,” wrote Mr. Harsanyi, the “soak the rich” policy espoused by Mr. Littwin on the same day, “creates an irresponsible electorate.” More than this, according to The Heritage Foundation, the tax plan approved by the Democrat–controlled lame duck House of Representatives on December 2 would force even more Colorado and American small businesses to shut their doors and thus eliminate hundreds of thousands of additional jobs, thus adding to an already astonishing 9.8 percent unemployment level.
Lost in the November 2 election of Colorado Senator Michael Bennet was what most Coloradans said in 2010 campaign—we want lower taxes, less spending, and reduced regulations.
Somehow, the Democrat–controlled lame duck Congress did not get the message. In his creativity, I doubt that Mike Littwin will ever get the message.
