Tea Party wants to raise Kentucky sales tax

As long as America's most powerful hate group - the Tea Party - is allowed to exist unchallenged, the bigger their pile of lies grows.

The Tea Party claims to be for lower taxes, but this story should silence that claim. I've caught them endorsing the unconstitutional FairTax at their rallies, but they were largely preaching to their own choir of tealets. Now they're not even trying to hide their support for expanding taxation without representation.

The Tea Party purports to oppose tolls on the Brent Spence Bridge replacement - though tolls wouldn't be necessary if the Tea Party hadn't killed the American Jobs Act, which would have funded the bridge. Instead of tolls, the Tea Party wants to raise Kentucky's sales tax to an almost confiscatory 7% - which would force people to pay for the bridge who don't even use it.

That's the whole point, you see. A sales tax is one of the most regressive taxes: It hits the working poor the hardest. That includes folks who can't even afford cars. If the Tea Party hadn't sounded like a bunch of loons right from the giddy-up, I might agree to let them pursue a sales tax hike if they agree to make sure the new bridge allows bicycle and pedestrian access - and has gently sloped bike ramps in each direction. (Saves time for working people like me who need to get around.) But the Tea Party kind of blew this offer with all the fascism they've whipped up.

How does the Tea Party justify its support for imposing one of the highest sales taxes in America? Tea Party leader Garth Kuhnhein told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "The Tea Party stands for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free markets. Tolls do not work with any one of those 3 principles." Then how does a sales tax work with any of those 3 principles?

Much-laughed-at State Rep. Joe Fischer said of the tax hike, "If the Tea Party gets behind it statewide, that would be something that would have to be considered." So Fischer's measure of whether an idea is worthwhile is if the Tea Party supports it. He doesn't care if people who live in his district support it. Just the Tea Party.

In the '70s, we had Nickel Louie: Gov. Louie Nunn, who raised the sales tax to 5%. So we can start referring to Joe Fischer as 7-Cent Joe. And we'll call the Tea Party the Seven Blunders.

Fischer needs to be utterly bludgeoned with this issue when he runs for reelection. It's a shame the Democrats wouldn't field an opponent against him last year before his district was expanded southward, because then we probably wouldn't have to deal with 7-Cent Joe's self-righteous blibberings now.

One thing appears almost certain: If the Tea Party's tax increase passes, I'll bike on the new bridge - legal or not. I'm paying for it, so it's my right. Bear in mind that new Interstate highways are required to have wide shoulders. It'd be a shame to let that go to waste.

In the meantime, you can check out a new Facebook page that opposes the Tea Party's tax hike...

https://www.facebook.com/nosalestaxforbrentspencebridge