LAWS OF CONSERVATION. Neal Boortz offers "THE DEMOCRATS' (SECRET) PLAN FOR AMERICA." Alas, it fails a few simple sniff tests.

"Using “refundable” tax credits and deductions and such ideas as the fraudulent Earned Income Tax Credit the Democrats are working to shift the entire burden for the payment of federal income taxes onto a minority of US taxpayers. Right now the top 50 percent of taxpayers pay almost 96 percent of the taxes. The Democrats are close to their goal. When the majority of voters have no federal income tax liability it will be almost impossible to pass any meaningful tax cuts – and further tax increases will be a piece of cake, especially if the taxes only affect those to be considered to be rich."

Let's see, that's the 1916 income tax code, isn't it? We all know how effective that was at raising taxes.

"$15,000 of their income. Bingo -- the poor now have a completely free ride! They are now life-long, dedicated Democratic voters. But wait! Isn't that going to cost the government money? Are you kidding? Of course it's not! It's not going to cost the government money because they're simply going to raise the salary cap for Social Security taxes by enough to cover the lost revenues! Right now the cap is around $88,000 on Social Security taxes. To cover the shortfall Reich says they will just raise the salary cap by $15,000 ... to $103,000 a hear. Reich forgets, though, that there is no cap on Medicare taxes, so raising the cap by $15,000 would not recover the Medicare taxes lost by excluding the first $15,000 in income. In reality the Democrats would have to raise the salary cap by about $19,000. They would just round it off to $20,000."

Let's take that proposition seriously. Now anybody earning more than $20,000 a year, meaning about 3/4 of the workforce, is a taxpayer. And expanding the base for the Social Security tax base simply raises the incentive to opt out. One of the great conjuring tricks of the Social Security tax is the exemption of high incomes. "Why don't they buy a 401k," sniffs the modern Master of the Universe.

"Give the Democrats the power [to expand the tax base - Sup't.] and watch that wage base jump to $100,000, $200,000 and beyond. The eventual Democrat Party goal is to have people pay Social Security taxes on every penny they earn … no matter how much that is. There will no comparable increase in benefits for the high income earners. The extra money will be used to keep the Democratic middle and low-income constituency happy."

See above.

"When the Democrats ride into power you had better be prepared to kiss that mortgage interest deduction -- and a lot more of your money -- a fond farewell."

That's the old imputed rent argument, which Mr.Boortz comments on below, using something called the Haig-Simon definition of income (again, thanks, Bob Lampman and Bob Hutchens.) Some of us with longer memories recall this idea being bruited about in 1993, as part of the Clinton Administration's tax reform and balanced budget plan. With 2/3 of the housing stock in the United States owner-occupied, such a proposal has the potential to convert Democratic voters into Republicans. (Wait a minute, didn't that happen in 1994?)

There might be good reason to be skeptical of tax plans that involve running money through Washington and transferring some of it to others, but at least think through the reasons for your skepticism.