Every Democrat running for every office in the United States echoes a standard campaign theme: “I plan on taxing the rich and spreading the wealth around.” They chant, the rich do not “pay their fair share of taxes and it is time that they do.” They preach, “It is time to reduce income inequality.” Their gospel is, “Those who have benefited the most should help those who have benefited least.”

Who do leftists consider rich when they obsess about raising taxes? The Tax Policy Center says about 10% of U.S. households have incomes over $200,000. The top fifth of them pay 69% of all federal taxes. If “the rich” already pays more than their fair share, why does the left always demand that they must pay more? This is the paradigmatic liberal axiom: “It is time that we punish the rich.”

Joe Biden ran for president on a “tax the rich” platform, and eked out a victory over the populist Donald Trump. But he toned down the rhetoric for a few months while lobbying for his “Build Back Better” pipedream. But in true progressive form, he broke the bad news to taxpayers last week. As Congress unwrapped Biden’s 2023 wish-list, it was “Christmas in Spring” for Republicans.

Biden’s 2023 fiscal budget re-proposes all of the bad ideas that Congress won’t pass and adds a new twist – “the coveted liberal wealth tax.” Biden is obviously pivoting further left to fire up sullen progressives for the midterm elections. This gives them new ammunition to assail the evil GOP.