Dems view of 'shared sacrifice'

Joe Biden loves to say "paying taxes is patriotic." Obama lectures us weekly that wealthy citizens and the private jet owners should pay their fair share. OK, fine. But maybe Obama should look at his own party.

Let's start with Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. Earlier this year she had to pay more than $375,000 to cover back taxes and improper billing for her $2 million private plane. Oops!

Then there's Sen. John Kerry from Massachusetts. He tried to hide his $7 million luxury yacht at a dock in Rhode Island to avoid his own state taxes. Oops! Not patriotic. He got caught and had to pay about $500,000 in taxes. Plus he was selected by Harry Reid to sit on the "super 12 committee" to help solve our tax and debt problems. Real smart, Harry.

Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, the former House Ways and Means chairman, was found guilty in 2010 of 11 counts of violating House ethics rules. He used to write tax law, yet he forgot to pay taxes on income from his beach side home.

To top it all off, a September 2010 Washington Post article reported there were 41 Obama White House aides who owed the IRS $831,000 in back taxes. No problem. Timothy Geithner, our Treasury secretary, oversees the IRS. You remember him. He failed to pay $34,000 in income taxes but still got the appointment from Obama.

Democrats make me so proud to be an American taxpayer.

WILLIAM PIERCEY SR., Cape Girardeau