Their current priority: find new ways to increase taxes without calling it a “tax increase.” After all, with the 2004 election cycle coming soon, Democrats need some kind of message (ANY MESSAGE!) that will attract voters to them.

Democrats are always especially eager to get more of your hard-earned dollars to spend, spend and spend some more on wasteful entitlement programs and pandering to their primary constituency, the poor and uneducated. They’ve been doing this for years and, for the most part, it has worked for them.

But the 2002 elections proved that the electorate is starting to get smarter and have caught on to the conniving tactics being used by the Democrats. That’s why these new consultants have been working on coming up with a nifty new phrase in an effort to confuse voters into giving up more of their money in taxes. This is really sneaky, too.

You are hearing it here first, CommonVoice readers. The latest catch phrase that means tax increases is “revenue enhancers.” Liberals just love telling everyone that it is imperative that the government “balance” reductions in the budget with equal measures that will “enhance revenues” coming in to government coffers.

In other words, what Democrats are telling us is that they have to raise tax rates every time there are reductions in spending. Only when the revenues are enhanced can spending continue. Honestly, these “revenue enhancers” are a surreptitious way for Democrats to get away with making people pay even higher taxes tomorrow than they do today.

And Democrats will stop at nothing when it comes to increasing taxes on anything and everything. Democrats have been successful at taxing diapers, income, soft drinks, liquor, televisions, bleach, bullets, cars and just about anything else that people use on a regular basis. Democrats like to say that they “have to enhance revenues” to prevent making cuts to education and healthcare. This argument is losing strength now that people realize what the Democrats are doing.

The reality is that Democrats want to avoid making cuts in government spending that will alienate most of their voting base. Make no mistake about it, Democrats are spending your tax dollars to buy votes for their next election. If Democrats abandoned every single entitlement program they have supported today, then most of them would lose their bid for re-election.

And here’s a nugget of truth for you: nobody gets any government money without wielding political power. Unfortunately, that power is usually bought and paid for on the backs of unsuspecting taxpayers who unknowingly finance government contracts for those people who are the biggest contributors to the politicians who got elected. Gee, what a surprise.

So, the Democrats want to “enhance revenues” by taking even more money from your paycheck, eh? The bad news is that you will have less money to spend as a result of these “revenue enhancers.” Even worse, though, is the fact that increasing tax rates doesn’t “enhance revenues” collected by the government. In fact, when taxes are increased, revenues historically fall. What makes it even worse is the fact that spending continues to go up and up and up as well, which causes the deficit to rise indefinitely (and the Democrats like to blame Republicans for increasing the deficit? Tsk tsk!).

Interestingly, when tax rates are lowered, a neat thing happens. There is a lot more money collected to sufficiently pay for necessary government programs (such education and healthcare). Actually, there are usually budget surpluses that can be used to replenish rainy-day funds or even offer additional tax relief to taxpayers. Wouldn’t that be a great idea?

You know what? Now that I’ve thought about it, the Democrats are right (They are? Has Jimmy gone off the deep end? NO, read on!). We DO need revenue enhancing policies enacted into law. Our government would just LOVE to have more money right now in the midst of struggling budgets that are on life support. But what we need more than anything else are wise public policy decisions that will actually enhance revenues, not cause them to decrease as tax increases do.

The answer needed for federal and state government budgets is to immediately cut tax rates to a level that will provide adequate revenue for people to invest in the economy again. And, NO, tax cuts should NOT be phased in over a period of time or coincide with any tax increases. A tax cut is a CUT in taxes right now, not an eventual, maybe-I’ll-get-around-to-it-someday kind of thing. WE MUST DO IT NOW for it to have a positive effect on the economy!

At the same time, business regulations and business property taxes should be eased to open up the job market. We must lower business tax rates and lift government restrictions and red tape on small business owners, the backbone of our economy. The government should be encouraging businesses to hire new employees because it means more revenue for the government. A successful private sector makes the government profitable!

Government jobs, on the other hand, cost a lot of money. Isn’t it funny how so many jobs have been lost in the past few years, especially in the manufacturing industry, but government jobs just keep on increasing? No, it’s not a laughing matter because there are a lot of people struggling right now. If the government will enable businesses to expand (by giving them incentives to do so), then the economy will grow. If the economy grows, then government revenues will grow as well. The economics don’t get much simpler than this!

In conclusion, increasing taxes does nothing to stimulate the economy back to vibrant health. On the contrary, they devastate and destroy any hope for a promising future for our economy. Just as the advertisements we see on television for muscle “enhancers” that don’t really work to improve your physical health, these “revenue enhancers” being proposed by Democrats are just as worthless! They sure look like taxes to me!