Stan Geiger

A Subtle Change

"Read my lips, no new taxes!" That was a famous line uttered by candidate for president George H.W. Bush. After getting elected, Bush signed into law maybe the biggest federal tax increase in history. That, as much as anything, made Bush I a one-and-done president.

Candidate Obama---and early President Obama---swore up and down that no individual making less than $200,000 would see a tax increase in an Obama administration. "Not one thin dime," I believe, was the quote.

On the Fox Sunday show, one of the journalists on the panel noted an interesting observation. She said Obama has, in recent speeches, changed his wording. Obama now says no one making less than $200,000 will see an income tax increase. That's a subtle change in rhetoric, but it marks a tectonic shift in posture.

On Meet the Press, the treasury secretary was asked, point blank, if Obama would support a federal gasoline tax increase. The secretary tap danced around the question.

There are a myriad of ways Uncle Sam can dig deeper into your pocket without touching the income tax. There is the already-mentioned motor fuel tax; there is the payroll tax; there are new taxes, like a national sales tax, a value-added tax or a so-called "sugar tax."

Verily I say unto ye of meager incomes, hide your wallets.

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