Bush taxes my patience

President Bush seems to think that telling middle class people that rich folks don't pay their taxes anyway will somehow make them think it is wrong to raise the rate on those that do, and in the end will only cause the middle class to pay more.

Warning that a rollback would leave the working class with the tab because accountants would help the wealthy find loopholes, Mr. Bush said in Las Vegas, "Be careful about all this talk about taxing the rich."

A few thoughts here.
1) Why would my rate go up if the rich man finds a loophole to keep his rate from rising? Is part of the tax law that I pay more if Richie Rich can squirm out of paying his share? Aren't the loopholes already in place anyway, and then aren't I already paying more than my share under Bush?

2) Does anyone really believe the fear he peddles? A more natural response to me would be to ask why Bush doesn't propose to close those tax loopholes in the first place.

3) Did Bush miss the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office showing that his very tax cuts shifted the burden to the middle class already? Did he miss the part that showed the middle class already pays more of a burden than the wealthy do?

The CBO study, due to be released today, found that the wealthiest 20 percent, whose incomes averaged $182,700 in 2001, saw their share of federal taxes drop from 64.4 percent of total tax payments in 2001 to 63.5 percent this year. The top 1 percent, earning $1.1 million, saw their share fall to 20.1 percent of the total, from 22.2 percent.

Over that same period, taxpayers with incomes from around $51,500 to around $75,600 saw their share of federal tax payments increase. Households earning around $75,600 saw their tax burden jump the most, from 18.7 percent of all taxes to 19.5 percent.

This is an example of Bush "getting the job done." If that job is screwing the middle class and making the rich richer.

And I'm not sure I would bring up the word "job" if I were the president right now.