Raising Federal Taxes

After the decision by the Supreme Court on Obamacare, it is now clear that there are no limits on the power of the federal government to tax behavior. After all, Congress put a tax on those who do not buy health insurance, and the Court said that it has the Constitutional power to do so. It got me to thinking. What is the next area for this power to tax folks? Here are some suggestions:

1) The Obama Graduation tax -- All adults in the country must pay a tax of $500 per year. Anyone with a high school diploma or GED would be exempt, however, from the tax. This would let the federal government mandate that all citizens have to graduate from high school.

2) The (Michelle) Obama Obesity tax-- All adults in the country must pay a tax of $1000 per year. Anyone who is under a certain weight limit for his or her height is exempt from the tax. What better way for the federal government to make sure that no one is fat unless he or she pays.

3) The global warming avoidance tax -- All adults in the country must buy carbon offsets for at least 1000 pounds of carbon emissions each year. The government will "license" those who are approved vendors of the offsets, and will limit these people to friends of the president. Anyone who fails to buy these carbon offsets will be taxed at a rate of $1,000 per year.

4) The union membership tax -- all working adults must join a union at their place of work. Anyone who fails to join will be taxed a total of $1500 per year to be collected by the IRS.

5) The green energy tax -- every adult is required to install either a solar panel, wind driven generator or other approved green energy device on his or her home. Those who do not live in their own home are exempt. Those who do not comply will be taxed $2000 per year.

6) The Fast and Furious gun storage tax -- Each citizen of the USA is required to have a secure storage unit in his or her home in which firearms can be safely stored under lock and key. Anyone who fails to install such a secure storage unit will be taxed $5000 per year.

7) The excess children tax -- each adult would be subject to a $1000 annual tax. Those who have been father or mother to two or fewer children would be exempt from the tax, however.

Get the picture? The decision by the Supreme Court has opened up a whole new way for the federal government to rule the lives of Americans. Each of the above "taxes" would pass muster as constitutional under the reasoning of the Obamacare decision. It is true that the union membership tax (number 4 above) might be barred by the First Amendment which prevents Congress from interfering with the right of association, but that is a different question. Even the gun storage unit would probably pass constitutional muster. After all, it is not limited to gun owners, so it could reasonably be argued that it is not a restriction on gun ownership. Everyone would have to install one.

I chose the above taxes since they regulate areas of life that have not normally been subject to federal control in the past. Certainly, the federal government never has set schooling requirements or family size. The feds have never gotten involved regulating personal size (weight) either. But these taxes seem to be the way to do that now.

I am sure that there are many of you who will tell me that I am nuts to suggest these possibilities. I suggest that you remember that opinion the next time that the Democrats have the presidency together with majorities in both houses of Congress. Remember "never let a crisis go to waste!" Unless the nonsensical view of the Court in the Obamacare case is overturned, this will be the future. Some day it will happen. I just hope that it is way off in the future.