Norquist: "f*** the blue states"

Over the past few years there has been a rising concern among lawmakers over the ever-growing number of middle-class taxpayers who will be forced to pay the alternative minimum tax, thereby jacking up their federal tax rate. Well, here's an angle on the story I had never read before, from today's Boston Globe, hinting that the "concern" of some (i.e. Republican) lawmakers ought to be taken with a grain of salt.

Some Republicans have suggested leaving the minimum tax in place because those hardest hit tend to be in states that did not support Bush, including Massachusetts, California, and New York. ‘‘It is a tax of people living in ‘blue’ states,’’ said Grover Norquist, the conservative activist who heads Americans for Tax Reform.

He said the tax was originally conceived by liberal Democrats as a way of imposing higher taxes mostly on wealthier Republicans, and he suggested that it be used as a bargaining chip by the White House when Bush tries to enact his tax agenda. The minimum tax should be repealed only when Democrats ‘‘say they are sorry and offer to give us something in return,’’ Norquist said.

The 10 states with the highest percentage of people paying the minimum tax all voted for Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts for president last month, according to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice. But the state with the 11th highest percentage was Ohio, the state that went narrowly for Bush and decided the election.

Hats off to the vile but honest Grover Norquist for his willingness to strip the razor thin veneer of civility the administration tries to paste over its real agenda.

Oh, and PS: Ohio's right in there with the OTHER blue states? I take that as an admission.