HOLD YOUR BREATH, OBAMA TAXES AIR!

It's happened, folks. The government has figured out how to tax air. No kidding. My dad used to joke that if the government could tax air, they would, and guess what? They are going to under President Obama's new tax plan. Obama's "Cap and Trade" system will tax carbon producing companies, adding oodles to the cost of almost every product you can think of. He's actually going to tax carbon dioxide. Not toxic carbon "monoxide," but the same substance we exhale! The same earthly substance the plants consume! This big government, Orwellian money grab, is almost like pulling money out of thin air, literally. If he could hook up a carbon measuring device to your pie hole to monitor your blow factor, he'd tax that too. Barney Frank would be tax poor!

Can you imagine the size, scope, and intrusiveness of the bureaucracy that visits the businesses to audit the carbon emitted from these businesses? The cost to American businesses to comply with these new regulations will be astronomical. Of course companies will pass on this added cost to consumers, their customers, so companies won't be the ones ultimately paying the tax. People on fixed incomes, especially retirees and low-income people, will feel this the most because they don't have a lot of wiggle room to start with in their personal budgets. It's regressive, exactly the type of tax that liberals abhor. What a cruel tax to lay upon the poor. Could the President's poverty pimping days be over?

A quick refresher course on federal taxes reveals a few of the other taxes, in addition to the air we breath, that Uncle Obama gets a piece of:

Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): If you play by the rules, this makes sure you pay a certain amount, regardless of the validity of your deductions.

Capital Gains Tax: When you sell something, like a stock, bond, mutual fund, business, real estate, etc.

Corporate Income Tax: A hidden tax on individuals charged to a piece of paper. Only humans pay taxes. And we all pay these taxes in the form of higher prices charged by businesses to pay these taxes.

U.S. Estate Tax: Here, after taxing you your entire life, they hit you before you hit the grave. Also known as "Death Tax."

U.S. Excise Tax (includes taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages): Taxing you when you "sin."

U.S. Federal Income Tax: aka: Slavery.

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA): To prepay your eventual layoff.

FICA Tax (includes Social Security tax and related programs): Supposed to go into a separate pool for your retirement. Yeah, right.

Gasoline Tax: Sucks you dry.

Generation Skipping Tax: Keeps you from laundering money to your grand kids to avoid death tax.

Gift Tax: Keeps you from the freedom of giving away your money before you die, therefore bypassing death (estate) tax.

IRS Penalties: Tax on unpaid tax. I know, it's redundant.

This is just a small sampling of the plethora of federal taxes we already pay. This list is only a start, and doesn't include state and local taxes, such as sales and real estate taxes, federal cell phone tax, etc., etc.

This "Cap and Trade," carbon tax, or National Energy Tax, is, if passed, is certainly going to have a crippling effect on American businesses. Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of this algorean stupidity, is to raise the cost of living for those that can least afford it. So you see, ladies and gentlemen, President Obama's rhetoric about caring for poor people is, shall we say, "hot air!"