GET READY TO BE....... AHHHHHH..........PLUCKED

Don't Be Fooled By Word Games: Taxes Are Headed Up Regardless

Federal income taxes are about to go up sharply, but you wouldn't know it listening to the majority in Congress.

With the coming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, tax rates on income will rise. And with the alternative minimum tax poised to hit tens of millions of Americans with the expiration of the latest "patch," the Treasury will collect even more tax revenue.

All of this will happen automatically, without action by Congress or the president.

Tax increases on automatic pilot spawn political word games that mislead and numb the electorate. Under conventional "current law" accounting, for example, when a tax cut expires and marginal tax rates are forced higher, budget officials do not see this as a tax increase at all. But tell that to the couple who see their federal tax liability jump for no apparent reason.

We suggest that a better way of measuring federal taxes......