Who said socialism is dead? It's alive and well in New Jersey... or at least on life support. In a preview of things to come should John Kerry win the election this November, Governor Jim McGreevey recently proposed a plan to raise the income tax for everyone in the state who makes more than $500,000 a year, which will be given to lower-income residents as a tax rebate. In much the same way, John Kerry wants to raise the federal income tax for everyone in America who makes more than $200,000.

I've often wondered when it became the job of government to punish those who make more money by taking a larger percentage of it away. Is it a crime of some sort to do well? No, even then one would at least be owed a trial first. Democrats like McGreevey and Kerry simply declare that the more a person makes, the higher a percentage he or she must donate, to be given to people who didn't work for it. Is there any other name for this but income redistribution, the hallmark of socialism? A certain amount of taxes are necessary to provide for the essential functions of government, but taking taxes from some in order to give it to others is simply ridiculous. (Sorry, Robin Hood was redressing a wrong, not creating one... and he wasn't the government.) Remember that Karl Marx and Frederick Engels proposed a heavy progressive income tax as one of the measures necessary for the advance of Communism. A progressive income tax increases the number of people dependent on the State for sustenance, reducing or even eliminating their self-reliance and autonomy. Naturally, they tend to vote for the people who promise to continue the "bread and circuses;" an automatic vote for Democrats from the apathetic masses.

How does that work? What sense does that make? Say you're twelve years old and charge $5 to cut my lawn. You spend a hot, sweaty hour pushing a lawnmower around my yard. When it comes time to pay you, I only give you $3... and give $1 to each of your two friends who watched cartoons while you worked. Next time, you charge me $10... but I give $2.50 to each of your friends, handing you only $5. "Well, that's only fair," I say. "They had less money than you." Would you ever visit me again, except to egg my house on Mischief Night? I'll bet those two friends of yours wouldn't like that.

What Democrats seem to forget is that the majority of people earning over $500,000 -- or even $200,000 -- are business owners and investors. When they feel the pinch of higher taxes, the last thing they'll do is pay with a smile. Radio ads touting McGreevey's tax proposal claim that it's "a small sacrifice for 28,000 to make." New Jersey will see that tax base drying up, should that enforced "sacrifice" become law. Some people who fall into the "making too much" category may move out of the state altogether, taking their money with them. Others will move their money out of the stock market and into tax shelters, putting it out of McGreevey's reach. Those who own businesses will not expand their business as they might otherwise have done, and will not hire new employees they might otherwise have hired. Most of those 28,000 people making over $500,000 won't be making that involuntary "sacrifice" the Democrats have decided they won't miss, or will make up the loss in other ways which will cost the state jobs and growth. So how will McGreevey pay for the big tax rebate he's promising "middle class" citizens he'll take from the pockets of the too-rich? How will he pay the increased ranks of the unemployed? He'll just have to raise that extra tax a little bit more to make up the shortfall. Repeat cycle.

Hmm... well, $200,000 is still quite a lot of money for New Jersey residents to make, isn't it? Surely the people making all that money can afford a small sacrifice as well? Then, perhaps those selfish people earning $100,000 might look as though they're making too much money... And if you think that this all sounds like a bad deal for New Jersey taxpayers, how do you think people at the same income levels might react to Kerry playing the same games with the federal income tax?