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Ahhhh, April 15th. The day when tax people party (there ain’t no party like a tax party!) and politicians hoist ever dumber tax ideas on an unsuspecting public. Today’s contestant is John McCain. Let’s see what Senator McCain would do if he were Supreme Overlord:

• Extend the Bush Tax Cuts (which he didn’t support until running for President)
• Suspend the Federal Gasoline Tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day
• Double the tax exemption for each child from $3,500 to $7,000
• Create a third individual taxing system by allowing people to elect a flat tax (all the rage in GOP circles these days)

Oh, he has other economic ideas as well.

• Stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve so oil prices will come down (maybe he should check out the Strategic Helium Reserve sometime and how it’s basically been propping up the helium market).
• Strengthen states’ ability to be the lender of last resort for student loans (rather than the Federal government?)
• Suspend all discretionary spending increases other than the military for one year (you mean like the Student Loan program?)

Pandering, pandering, pandering. I’ve said before I’m all for a simpler tax system. Adding a third tier of individual taxing systems and increasing preferences for one group of people ain’t it. The gasoline tax helps to pay for infrastructure, which is already crumbling. How will we pay for it (and it’s discretionary spending, John)?

On the economic side, discretionary spending isn’t the problem. It makes you look like you’re attacking the problem, but it’s nowhere near the problem. Just about two years to the day I posted about the Federal budget and what percent relates to what. Senator McCain wants to freeze non-military (and veteran) discretionary spending? Here’s a reprint of that chart:

Assuming that all of the miscellaneous falls into the category, we’re looking at less than a quarter of the budget. If we want to get serious about the Federal deficits (which politicians aren’t but want you to believe they are) they’ll have to attack the 75% of the budget that’s the new third rail of politics. If you can’t cut defense, Medicaid, or Social Security and want to cut taxes you don’t have a lot of choices. But you can appoint a commission to study it and report back to make it look like you’re serious when everybody knows the report will be DOA because it will involve hard choices that no one will make.

Maybe I’m just cranky today, but I’m sick and tired of stupid, pandering tax ideas. Senator McCain’s hardly the only one. The ideas on the Democratic side are just as stupid and pandering. The more special giveaways that you give to politically desirable sub-groups, the more everyone pays. I’d love it if we made the dependant exemption one million dollars, but all the tax would be paid by those that don’t have children. The same thing happens on a smaller scale with all these tax giveaways, we just never see the sleight of hand that takes away what they are “giving” us. We all need to fight for a simpler, fairer system that just makes sense. And that means giving up some of our preferences for a lower rate.

Oh, and telling politicians not to put out more stupid, pandering tax ideas on April 15th.