Senate saucer tries to cool passions of confiscatory tax act

Washington Post:

Jarred by a cool reception from the White House and fears of unintended consequences across the financial world, Senate leaders are likely to delay until late next month legislation to punitively tax bonuses at banks and investment firms that receive federal aid.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) announced last week that the Senate would move ahead with the legislation as soon as possible, and he attempted to bring the bill to the floor Thursday night. But he revised that timetable yesterday, saying that the chamber will spend this week debating a national-service bill before turning to a long-scheduled showdown over the budget for fiscal 2010. With just two weeks to go until Congress departs for a spring recess, action on the tax measure would be unlikely before late April.

Reid's shift came as senators in both parties voiced increasing skepticism about the tax approach taken by the House, echoing President Obama's admonition Sunday night on CBS News's "60 Minutes" against using the tax code "to punish people."

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who introduced a Senate version of the bill Thursday, said yesterday that it is "unclear at this point" when the measure will be considered. He initially hoped to pass his legislation in a matter of days but said White House officials and other senators were offering "a lot of ideas" for modifying his proposal. But he added that no consensus has emerged on the specifics of the bill, as opposed to the unified outrage over the bonuses.

"Everybody knows you've got to address the outrage -- that's a no-brainer," Baucus told reporters.

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Well so far it appears that brains have been disengaged while emotions have ruled the bill writing. In an effort to avoid the clear bill of attainder intent of the movers of this legislation, they have thrown in other victims as collateral damage in their pique against AIG. I don't think adding victims will mask the clear intent to impose confiscatory taxes on a specific class of people they hate. This is bad legislative tax policy that needs to be stopped.

While Congress is supposedly addressing the "outrage" it is creating another with a punitive tax act. It is a pretty clear indication of mean spirited Democrats in action.