There is one question in regard to taxes that has always baffled me, and it does relate to the topic of middle class because they (myself included) pay the bulk of the taxes (of course dependant on how you define middle class).

The question is, why is it that tax rates must be increased when taxes based on a percentage of monetary flow should ebb and flow with the economic situation? If government is getting by on x and inflation is 5% of x, then revenues to the government should also increase by 5% to keep pace. Right?

Of course the answer is government always wants more, and bureaucracies are always self-perpetuating. Why in the hell should we ever have to give ever-increasing percentages of our income to bad government? To make more bad government!

I am also a big fan of a flat tax if administered consistently across the board. Unfortunately our tax code takes up some ridiculous length of shelf space to make way for preferential 'targeted' tax cuts for the well-connected. Of course most of the middle class falls short of this type of influence.

In regard to Rep. vs. Dem., there is really little difference in the long run. Taxes and bureaucracy continue to rise. Anyone who truly believes that the Democrats are the champions of the middle class is delusional. As a fairly conservative type, I must say that I have been extremely disappointed by the continuance of business as usual in regard to pork barrell spending with the current Republican Congress. Disgraceful. Whatever happened to abolishing the federal Dept. of Education?