OUR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT:

As I have argued previously, the fact that this tax plan was never proposed with the idea that it would actually become law makes it all the more significant, because it essentially represents a political statement of how the progressive movement sees the future. And one feature of the future, for the progressive movement, is (much) higher middle-class taxes. 

Progressives have made no secret of their belief that the government should spend a lot more money. Entitlements should not be touched, despite Americans' increased life expectancy. If anything, the left says, these enormously costly benefits should probably get expanded. Everybody should get comprehensive health insurance. Community college should be free. And so on. 

What progressives are a little more shy about admitting, at least when it comes to politicians, is that financing such a welfare state would require not just tax increases on the rich, but also the middle class. Today's tax code cannot sustainably support today's welfare state, let alone the much more expansive one that progressives imagine when they entertain their wildest dreams. 

Progressives usually ascribe the American political system's resistance to tax increases to dastardly Republicans bankrolled by Big Money. And it is true that the GOP's intransigence plays a role. But there is also a much simpler political reality at play: Americans don't like tax increases. And if you are talking about tax increases that affect middle-class families directly, they will revolt. 

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