Joe Conason on certain Republicans' plans to raise taxes. My cynical side believes that any time anyone of any party says "I've got a plan to make taxes fairer," what they've got is a plan to lower theirs and directly or indirectly raise someone else's.
I also think that our national debate on taxes fixates way too much on income taxes and not enough (usually, not at all) on things like sales taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, etc. It would be so much healthier if we did away with the word "tax" and replaced it with some noun that denotes the money that citizens are required to pay to the government in any form. That is the number that matters to me. It doesn't really matter to me if I pay a thousand bucks less in income tax and then wind up paying a thousand bucks a year more in some other way. Income taxes may even be tidier and more efficient than some other possibility, I don't know. I guess what I'd like is the collection method that (a) cost the least in collection costs and (b) provided the least possibility of someone gaming the system and getting off without paying their fair share. And I think there are so many wealthy folks out there who don't want (b) that it will never happen.