It’s official — we’ve entered the Age of Newspeak. Check out the headline from a WaPo editorial by Jonathan Gruber:
‘Cadillac’ tax isn’t a tax — it’s a plan to finance real health reform
OK, so maybe a headline writer got carried away. But, no, here are the man’s own words:
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But this argument misses an important point: The assessment proposed in the Senate is not a new tax; it is the elimination of an existing tax break that is provided to exactly these firms.
See! It’s not a tax! It’s the “elimination of a tax break.”
To put it more honestly: Everything you earn is the government’s by default, except what it deigns to let you keep.
They’re on par with the pikership of the California legislature. We had a gas tax the proceeds of which HAD to go into highway development and couldn’t go into the general fund (the black hole from which no legitimate government services can escape). So the legislators canceled that gas tax and created a new one with a different name. Voila — hot tubs all around in Sacramento!