“Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister to France’s King Louis XIV defined the art of taxation as, ‘so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.’ For this reason, ‘stealth’ taxes are a favorite government ploy. Though they may serve the government’s purposes for a season, they fail the test of transparency, even the test of honesty. They breed suspicion and confuse the citizens, who are called by God to be proper stewards of all that they have. Such stewardship further demands perceptive voting at election time.”[1]
President Obama, like other politicians who believe the federal government is the wisest of all, often promise to lower taxes while simultaneously raising them in not so conspicuous areas. In other words, promises are made to cut or not to raise the “federal income tax,” but then government imposes further regulations that end up costing citizens. Or they may restrict oil exploration for political reasons, which causes gas prices to increase. Or they can increase the tax on each gallon of gas, which is not noticed by most. Or they often print money to cover their uncontrolled spending, which results in inflation paid by the taxpayer. They can increase the size of government under the guise of creating jobs, which is simply a tax increase since all government employees are paid by taxes. Of course, these all have the direct effect of a tax as far as citizens are concerned, without the political fallout of being a politician who raises taxes on everyone.
[1] Kairos Journal, accessed 10/17/12, from the article “A Tax by any other Name U.K. National Insurance.”
