You've probably

read more than your fill in this space about the tax cut situation, but

there's more.

Did you ever

get one of those itches that you can't quite pinpoint? You just keep scratching

a wide area until it starts to feel better.

Well, something

has been bothering me about the tax cut debate and I just couldn't quite

put my finger on it, but the watchdog group Citizens Against Government

Waste helped me find the source. CAGW is as credible a source of information

on taxation as I've been able to find. You may disagree with the group's

conclusions, but I've never known anyone to successfully impugn its facts.

It's frightening

how shortsighted our leaders are on both sides of the debate when they

talk about issues like tax cuts.

There doesn't

seem to be any connection with the big picture.

Listen to the

Bush camp and you get the feeling that they're pushing for tax cuts because,

well, that's what Republicans do. Their supporters are generally high

achievers and high taxpayers, and if you want to be popular with your

supporters you rub it where it hurts.

A large segment

of the Democrats' base is made up of low achievers who are low taxpayers,

or in most cases don't pay any taxes at all. Naturally, Democrats are

against tax cuts. They want to spend more money to make that part of their

constituency happy.

On both sides,

this motivation is very thinly disguised. Democrats say we can't afford

tax cuts, or we don't need them. Translation: We need to keep taking money

from people who are making it OK and giving it to people who aren't. That's

how we buy votes.

Republicans

say that since there's a surplus, it should go