This morning the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) charged Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg (R) with seeking to raise gasoline taxes by 23 percent. When I read this, I couldn’t figure out why a conservative Republican like Walberg would make such a proposal, though it’s always possible that he, like anyone who lives and works in the District of Columbia, might have finally simply slipped his moorings.
When I looked into the matter, however, I found that our Democratic friends weren’t quite telling it like it is. The DCCC bases its charge on Walberg’s sponsorship of legislation described in the committee press release only as “HR 25.” I assumed this must be the Republican Tax the Drivers Act of 2008 until I pulled it up.
In fact, of course, HR 25 is the legislative embodiment of the “Fair Tax” under which the federal income tax would be replaced by a consumption tax. The legislation would do away with the IRS and the income tax and has the support of a good many people in and out of Congress.
None of this appeared in the DCCC release, which simply declared that Walberg would “impose a 23 percent tax on all goods and services purchased in the United States in 2009, including gas.” The impression conveyed, of course, is that he’s a tax raiser and, indeed, that he likes taxes even more than someone like, say, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Those who simply read the release can, I think, be excused for concluding — as I almost did — that the poor fellow from Michigan had gone bonkers.
Actually, I’m no fan of the Fair Tax. I’ll leave arguing its merits to the Mike Huckabees of the world, but it represents a serious attempt to reform our tax system, and those who support it deserve better than this.
As it turns out, however, the DCCC release is little more than another sign that the 2008 campaign is under way and that rational men and women should beware.
Keene is chairman of The American Conservative Union, whose website can be accessed here.