Guess what?! I've got a fever, and the only prescription... is more cowbell!

Like Christopher Walken says in the Saturday Night Live sketch, leftists around the world say about taxes. However, it really goes something like this: "There is some made up crisis, and the only prescription is more taxes!" Or government control, but you get the picture.

In a previous post, "I'm the Taxman, Yeah the Taxman," I detailed how the United Kingdom is looking for more taxes to make the UK more "green." Not to be outdone, the wild man from Tennessee, Al Gore, according to CNN, "...has pushed for polices that would reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, such as greater energy conservation and the development of alternative energy sources like wind and solar energy. Gore has also advocated for governments to tax the emission of carbon dioxide."

Why is Al Gore promoting this? Because he is a big fan and shareholder in a carbon credit business, but I digress.

Green taxation, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, has been around for 15 years. It seems that they want taxes to:

* to generate revenue to pay for damages created from past pollution and for measures to reduce future pollution

* to change behavior

* combine(s) a significant pollution tax with a major restructuring of the tax system to make the overall economy more efficient. This process is called "tax shifting."

While they recognize green taxes are regressive, that is they hurt poor people the most, and not folks like Ted Kennedy and Barbara Streisand, the ILSR states: "One way to deal with the inequities resulting from an across the board carbon tax would be to return a significant portion of the revenue to the low income community for energy efficiency."

Well look what we have here. It is all just another income redistribution scheme with a helping of Nanny State on top. So there you have it, the earth is falling apart! Tax everybody! Leftists have the answer! Do I need to put in a sarcasm tag?