Just as Reagan did, Bush is raising taxes but hiding it. Reagan did it by calling them "revenue enhancements." Bush is doing it through regressive use taxes.
Wayne Madsen reports:
George W. Bush's War Stamp Tax. According to US Postal Service insiders, the Bush administration, which has prided itself on tax cuts, has imposed a stealth war tax on the American people. In January, the Postal Rate Commission approved a raise in first class postage two cents to 39 cents. The commission has now indicated it wants to raise the price of a first class stamp by three cents to 42 cents next year. The reason for the Bush stamp tax is that when the Bush administration took power in 2001, the Postal Service Fund, a special account established within the Treasury Department, had a substantial surplus. However, in order to pay for its Iraq war adventure, the Bush administration raided the Postal Service Fund and created a deficit. The two successive rate increases have been necessary in order to replenish the fund, according to Postal Service sources. In addition to the Postal Service Fund, the misappropriation of money for the war has also adversely affected the Postal Employees' Compensation Fund, the solvency for which is guaranteed by the Postal Service Fund.
King George's Stamp Tax
The Postal Rate Commission is a gaggle of GOP hacks. The two-term chairman is Mississippian George Omas, a former House of Representatives employee and a member of the National Republican Club of Capitol Hill. The Vice Chairman is Dawn Tisdale, a former postmaster of Smithville, Texas. Another commissioner is Tony Hammond, the 1998 director of campaign operations for the Republican National Committee and an assistant to then RNC chair Haley Barbour. Danny Covington, a one-time GOP House candidate whose term expired in October 2005, and Omas are both Ole Miss graduates and represent a GOP clique beholden to Barbour and Senator Trent Lott.
Filed under: Bush, raising taxes, Forever stamp, Wayne Madsen, Postal Rate Commission, Postal Service Fund, GOP, Haley Barbour, Danny Covington, Trent Lott, Tony Hammond, Dawn Tisdale, George Omas, war, Iraq, Postal Employees' Compensation Fund, stamp tax, reasons not to vote for Republicans
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