In the event of a chemical or biologic attack when one becomes aware there should be a chant of "Gas!, Gas!, Gas!" A familiar signal is given and everybody is supposed to get into full protective gear.

Wouldn't it be great if we could do the same thing when DC comes after our money with their "revenue" weapons?

Taxes would not be so bothersome if there was at least some responsibility in government spending. It is excruciating to see how the government gets gamed every day. There are whole cottage industries that exist simply to secure grants or help people score government benefits.

The other frustrating part of taxation in this country is the selfishness. Nobody seems to care unless the tax applies to them. Anybody who believes society really cares about health when tobacco taxes are raised is kidding themselves. The truth is smokers are an easy target.

Alaska is ground zero when it comes to the principle of selfish taxation. We tax the cruise ships. We let so-called fiscal conservative, actually socialist, Sarah Palin raise taxes on the oil industry to a marginal rate of 90%.

The flip side of silly spending came when she issued $1200 bribes. It is hard to not notice she skipped out of the job once revenue started dropping and she could not bribe the public anymore.

The Senate health care bill is full of new taxes. It comes as no surprise that many of them are aimed to play the same old games.

There is a 40% excise tax on higher cost health plans that kicks in on plans over $8500 for an individual or $23,000 for a family. This number was arrived at to protect as many labor union plans as possible. When that occurred it became nothing more than classic Democrat class warfare.

The cost to insurance plans of the above will be $34.7B by 2019 based on the revenue the plan is counting on. This may help the plan be closer to "budget neutral" but someone will surely pay. That someone is the patient of course.

Annual fees were placed on manufacturers and importers of certain medical devices. Note, it was not on all because that would have meant special friends of various senators did not get pay back.

Annual fees are assessed on insurers as well.

Pharmaceutical companies are also assessed an annual fee. Drug importers face the fees as well but only if they are bringing in branded drugs. Many may remember there are things missing in this bill that the pharmaceutical industry wanted so this was the compromise.

Still, by 2019, the fees will cost the system over $10B.

Some money will be raised by lifting the limit at which health care expenses become deductible from 7.5% of income to 10% of income. That will lead to $3.9B more in collected taxes from people who will now get less of a deduction when health care costs are devastating them.

Wait, I thought the plan was supposed to try and stop the destructive burden of health care?

There is bad news for Hollywood as well. There will now be a 5% excise tax on cosmetic surgery. This may actually be a case where the politicians hit themselves as well unless Botox is exempted.

A cry of Democrats and The Palin alike has always been that people pay their fair share. It turns out in 2007 that the top 1% (income greater than 410K) of earners paid over 40% of the taxes.

How could that be considered enough? No problem. That small piece of the population gets to pay even more under this plan with a 0.5% hike on wages greater than $200K a year.

This is just a taste of what sits inside the Senate plan in terms of new taxes. The taxes are all carefully designed to do minimal damage to friends of the Democratic Party.

Supporters will cry about how these entities can pay. Funny, how easy it is to make such claims when you are not picking up the check.

It is amazing that the supposed goal of this is to somehow make health care more affordable. The question is affordable for whom?

It really is not a problem for the politicians. The bottom 50% of income earners pay less than 2% of the taxes so those votes remain safe.

It is also fashionable to bash anybody associated with health care. Nationally, the industry is viewed the same way oil companies are viewed in Alaska. The Democrats are just channeling The Palin.

In the end, this will not save anybody. Some ideas had a place in the overall picture. The problem is the gamesmanship has made it so even the reasonable ideas have been transformed to policy that protects one group over another to satisfy a political debt.

The only thing missing in the deal between Senator Harry Reid and Senator Mary Landrieu was room 604. Louisiana gets between $100M and $300M and we all lose. It is remarkable how quiet the supporters of the plan are on such a blatant political pay-off.

In a mere 2000 pages America gets to find out that when you try to redistribute the wealth you actually redistribute the poverty. Get ready, the fun has only just begun.

Gas! Gas! Gas!