Dissent, Scoundrels, Taxes and Patriotism

According to this story, Slow Joe Biden apparently enunciated Barack Tax the Rich Give to the Poor Obama's philosophy today:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. In a new TV ad that repeats widely debunked claims about the Democratic tax plan, the Republican campaign calls Obama's tax increases "painful."

Now, as I understand it, the Left views dissent as the "highest form of patriotism," while they also decry patriotism as "the last refuge of scoundrels."

Does that mean dissenting against higher taxation is patriotic, too? Or does patriotically paying higher taxes make them scoundrels? I'm so confused.

The piece goes on to state:

Although Republican John McCain claims that Obama would raise taxes, the independent Tax Policy Center and other groups conclude that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama's proposals.

"We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

According to the Congressional Budget Office (a PDF file), the top quintile of income earners - those averaging a bit over $200,000 per annum in 2004 - payed 25% of their income to the government that year. On the other hand, the lowest quintile, (median income, $15,400) received an additional 6.2% (about $950) from the government - that's code for "from everybody who actually paid in." The second quintile - average income $36,300 - got back 0.8%, or about $290. So, on average, about 40% of income earners not only paid no federal income tax, they received money from the Federal government - (the rest of us) in 2004.

In fact, according to the same source, the lowest quintile paid only 0.9% of the total income tax burden. The second quintile paid 4.5%. (These people could use an accountant, obviously! Most of the group got money! There oughta be a law mandating that H&R Block do income tax preparation free for people in the lowest two quintiles!) The top 20% - remember, average income of $207,000 - paid 67.1% of the income tax burden of the entire country.

And apparently Barack Robin Hood Obama and Joe Little John Biden think they ought to be paying more because the existing system isn't FAIR.

You're damned right it isn't fair. And making it even more unfair will help exactly how?

Oh, right. It will let the Democrats give more money to people with low incomes to entice them to vote Democrat. I mean, who doesn't like free money?

Pardon me, I need to go load a couple hundred rounds of .45ACP. There's a match this Saturday. . .