Nobody's tax scheme will fix Feds' spending problems

Trying to fill the federal government’s gigantic budget hole with a 5.6 percent surtax on the tiny number of people with incomes greater than $1 million, as President Barack Obama proposes, is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a spoonful of dirt. It’s a gesture, a charade, a joke. It’s just not serious. Spending, not revenue, is the problem. Did you believe the federal government was too small 10 years ago? I’ll bet not.

Today the federal government is twice as large, in spending terms, as it was then: $1.8 trillion budget in 2001 and approximately $3.7 trillion this year. The national debt–the total amount of federal government debt outstanding — has grown from $5.7 trillion 10 years ago to $14.8 trillion (and growing) now.